This workshop, co-organized by the Ministry of Industry Trade and Investment of the United Republic of Tanzania and UNCTAD in cooperation with UNIDO, is part of a three-year project funded by the United Nation's Development Account aiming to provide a forum of discussion to facilitate regional integration, the development of regional value chains (RVCs) and the coordination of industrial policies in the Southern African region.

In the context of this initiative, a first regional workshop, jointly organized with the Department for Trade and Industry of the Republic of South Africa (DTI), was held in Pretoria in March 2017.