The objectives of the project/sub-committee are to assist individual countries in SADC, to define a payment system strategy and development plan, and to define a co-ordinated regional approach to cross-border payments.  In this regard, the implications for, inter alia, trade, central bank policy and foreign-exchange positions and controls need to be taken into account.  At this stage, the focus is developing a sound and robust domestic payment system within each SADC country, a prerequisite for defining a cross-border payment strategy.