Lesotho’s trade minister visits ITC (en)

The International Trade Centre (ITC) on Tuesday 20 November received a delegation from the Kingdom of Lesotho to its Geneva headquarters to discuss with representatives of ITC’s senior management past and future cooperation to improve the country’s export capacities.

The Lesotho delegation was led by Mr Temeki P. Solo, Minister of Trade and Industry, Cooperatives and Marketing, and Mr Mothae Anthony Maruping, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva.

Welcoming the Lesotho delegation, Friedrich von Kirchbach, Director of ITC’s Division of Country Programmes, pointed out that the cooperation with Lesotho had been working well, but that it was nevertheless important to make improvements to lessons learnt.

In 2008, ITC launched a project in Masianokeng in Maseru, which aimed to enhance the production and marketing of mushroom in Lesotho. The project covered both training and technological improvements. Farmers in all of Lesotho’s districts are now engaged in the production of mushrooms, and several have now started to export their produce, mainly to South Africa.

Minister Solo said that he appreciated ITC’s past input to improve the capacity of Lesotho’s exports. He also said that he would like to see even closer ITC involvement as increased export capacities are crucial to improving employment opportunities in the country.

Learn more about the Kingdom of Lesotho. [http://www.intracen.org/country/lesotho/]