As is custom in Lesotho, allow me to pay my respects to:

His Majesty King, Letsie III and her Majesty Queen 'Masenate,

The Right Honourable the Prime Minister, Mr Samuel Ntsokoane Matekane,

The Honourable President of the Senate, Mme Mamonaheng Mokitimi,

Honourable Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr Tlohang Sekamane,

His Lordship the Chief Justice,

The Honourable Deputy Prime Minister, Mme Nthomeng Majara,

The Honourable Ministers in His Majesty’ Cabinet and in particular those who accompany us today and in particular Minister of Finance and Development Planning Retšelisitsoe Matlanyane, the Minister of Local Government, Chieftainship, Home Affairs and Police Lebona Lephema, the Minister of Trade and Industry Mokhethi Shelile, the Minister of Labour Employment and Public Service, Richard Ramoeletsi, The Minister of Gender, Youth, Sports, Arts, Culture and Social Development, Hon. Pitso Lesaoana,  the Minister of Natural Resources Honourable Mohlomi Moleko, and the Minister in Prime Minister Office, Limpho Tau,

Their Excellencies Heads of Diplomatic Missions and International Organisations, and in particular the Ambassadors of European Member States, who accompany us from Pretoria today H.E. the Ambassador of Italy Paolo Cuculi, H.E. the Ambassador of Germany Andreas Peschke, H.E. the Ambassador of Finland, Anne Lammila, H.E. the Ambassador of Belgium Paul Jansen, H.E. Ambassador  Romana Königsbrun, and H.E. Ambassador Vladimir Grácz, Deputy Head of Mission of Sweden Christian Fogelström and Deputy Head of mission of Ireland Tim Reilly  as well as Ludovic Cocogne and Alexandre Brochard from the Embassy of France,  and other  diplomats in their delegations.

Honourable Members of the Senate and Principal Chiefs and other traditional leaders,

Honourable Members of the National Assembly,

Principal Secretaries and representatives of government institutions,

Members of the media,

Other distinguished guests and in particular EU junior Ambassador 2023, Maphakisane Letlola,

Bo-'M'e le Bo-Ntate, All Protocol observed.

Honourable Prime Minister, six months ago, when you and your government met international partners, shortly after taking office, we reiterated the values of our partnership.

Team Europe – the EU and all of its institutions together with the 27 Members States as well European economic operators – stand ready to support the vision for Lesotho you articulated back then.

The European Union has been a strategic partner of Lesotho for nearly 50 years.

We have been steadfast supporters of Lesotho’s economic and social development since 1976, contributing to concrete and tangible achievements such as the Highland Water Development Project, and Muela power plant or the Metolong Dam supplying water to Maseru.

Not only our partnership is a reliable and longstanding one but it is one which has grown in size year after year. It includes programmes like Renoka and actions in support of the reforms and justice, but also   humanitarian assistance, education and vocational training, technical assistance. It also includes contributions to global programmes that benefit Lesotho: 40 cents of every Euros spend by the Global Alliance for Vaccine Immunisation in Lesotho GAVI comes from Team Europe contributions; 70 cents spent here by the Global Partnership for Education are funded by the EU.

EU cooperation is by definition Team Europe cooperation as each and every one of the 27 Member States contributes to the budget of the EU. Today is one of the few opportunities in the year where several representatives of EU member States are present in Maseru but Team Europe is present with its support 365 days of the year and for several decades. Every member State large or small is a reliable partner of Lesotho. The presence of representatives of 9 of the 27 member states today confirm this commitment.

Despite the war at our doorstep, our commitment to the African continent and in particular to Lesotho remains unchanged.

Today, we reiterate this commitment with the launch of three new cooperation programmes  corresponding to a total value of 29 Million Euros, 609 Million Maloti. They underpin the nation’s vision of an energy independent and inclusive Lesotho, where no one is left behind.

The first programme, Renewable Lesotho, (15 Million Euros) aims to ensure energy security in Lesotho, improve access to reliable and affordable clean energy, and promote green growth. 

Renewable Lesotho will provide technical support to public entities as well as private sector operators through business facilitation support.

In addition, the programme will establish a funding mechanism for initiatives in the energy sector, ranging from renewable energy generation to energy efficiency projects.

Once the Energy Bill will be adopted, the programme will also help establish the National Energy Fund to leverage additional resources for renewable energy.

As stressed repeatedly by the Right Honourable Prime Minister Matekane, renewable energy is not only crucial to ensure Lesotho becomes energy independent, with huge benefits for the country’s finances, but can also create jobs and economic opportunities for the country, particularly its youth.

The second programme, Equitable Lesotho, (8 Million Euros) aims to reduce poverty for the most vulnerable population in Lesotho.

Equitable Lesotho will continue supporting the delivery of child grants and help updating the National Information System for Social Assistance (NISSA).  The programme will notably support the use of digital payments and technology to make social protection more efficient and transparent – as outlined by Minister Lesaoana in the 100-day dialogue.

It will help also linking current social protection schemes with other key services, such as birth registration, and access to nutrition and energy.

Finally yet importantly, Equitable Lesotho will support statistical capacity development, to ensure more frequent and better data is available in order to monitor the performance of programmes and increase accountability to citizens.

The third action, the support measures, (6 million Euros) will strengthen civil society and establish a cooperation facility to support the implementation of our cooperation programme.

This programme will provide financial resources and technical support for civil society-led efforts to improve accountability and the participation of citizens, in all their diversity, in public life.

It will also provides technical assistance, on a demand-basis, both short- and long-term for institutional support and key reforms, such as public financial management reforms initiated by Minister Matlanyane.

Because we mean business – today we are also signing two implementation agreements to start working under these new programmes as soon as possible.

The first implementation agreement is with the German Cooperation Agency (GIZ) (EUR 6 Million + German co-funding of EUR 860,000) to operationalise the component of Renewable Lesotho providing technical assistance to the public and private energy sector. The kick-off meeting will take place next week, 24 May, with Minister Moleko.

The second implementation agreement is with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) (EUR 6 million + Unicef co-funding of EUR 826,000) to operationalise the support to social protection.

These new programmes offer concrete opportunities for partnership and for leveraging additional resources.

I would like to acknowledge the co-funding we have already attracted, EUR 860,000 from the German government, and EUR 826,000 from UNICEF, for which we are indeed very thankful.

In parallel, we are exploring opportunities to leverage even more resources to support priority large-scale energy infrastructure, in partnership with the European Investment Bank.

Our efforts are fully aligned with Lesotho’s national priorities and the objectives of Global Gateway, the European strategy to boost smart, clean and secure links in digital, energy and transport sectors and to strengthen health, education and research systems across the world.

We believe that Lesotho can set an example for the entire region and beyond, showing that a just and green transition is indeed possible.

Khotso Pula. Nala.