Africa-Press – Angola. The 43rd Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), taking place this Thursday in Luanda, marks the beginning of a new page in the region, which faces urgent problems, such as terrorism and social inequalities.
The Summit takes place at a time when conflicts persist in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, opposing this country to Rwanda, and in the province of Cabo Delgado, Mozambique, situations to which particular attention should be given, taking into account their negative impact .
With this high-level meeting, SADC has everything to review its development strategy and look for solutions that are more adjusted to the reality of the continent, in particular, and the world, in general, in order to respond to the great desires of its 16 communities .
The Summit, which will be marked by the attribution of the rotating presidency to Angola, for a new term of one year, represents an important step towards the fulfillment of the strategic objectives, mainly that of achieving sustainable development.
It is, therefore, an “open door” for Member States to review the common strategy of consolidating peace and security, growth and poverty reduction, in order to materialize the dream of building a peaceful and prosperous community.
It is expected that at this Summit, whose theme is “Human Capital and Industrialization”, the SADC States will be able to mark safe and consistent steps to put an end, once and for all, to terrorism in the region and consolidate the dream of the Free Trade Area.
Thus, the organization’s leaders have an opportunity to adopt new strategies to improve the population’s quality of life, especially the most disadvantaged social strata.
Therefore, the Summit must be a unique moment to reaffirm the commitment to regional integration and to raise the democratic culture of the Member States, two fundamental assumptions for the expected sustainable development.
There is therefore no doubt that the development and industrialization of the region will only be possible in a context of peace and security, which is why the States must maintain their firm commitment to the implementation of the SADC Agenda.
By assuming, for the 3rd time, the presidency of the organization, Angola will have the opportunity to give visibility to local potential and help to pacify a region that needs the union of all.
To this end, it should be anchored in Agenda 2050, the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (2020–2030), the Master Plan for the Development of Regional Infrastructures, as well as the SADC Industrialization Strategy and Roadmap 2017-2063.
It is no coincidence that the theme of the Luanda Summit defines the vision and objectives of the region, with a focus on human and financial capital, issues that Angola needs to keep at the top of the SADC agenda during its new mandate.
With the sustainable industrialization of the region, Angola will be able to leverage its economy, taking advantage of the geostrategic positioning of the Lobito Corridor, as well as accelerate trade, within the framework of the Free Trade Zone.
In its future leadership, the country must also increase dynamism in matters of representation and gender equality, mobility between Member States, implementation of commercial and economic exchanges, as well as in actions to combat climate threats.
In the field of information technologies, an excellent opportunity opens up for the country to sell Angosat 2 services, with which it will be possible to reduce the digital divide in Angola, in particular, and in the African continent, in general.
With this technology, Angola is in a position to expand telecommunications services to remote areas of the country and neighboring states, at competitive prices.
At the global level, SADC, created in 1992 with the aim of encouraging trade relations between its 16 member countries, has yet another opportunity to re-centralize its agenda around regional integration and evaluate the advances made in the Free Zone strategy Business.
It is therefore expected that the presidency of Angola will boost the common market, in the medium term, following the basic model of the European Union and some aspects of Mercosur, and efforts to establish peace and security in the troubled southern African region.
SADC member countries are: South Africa, Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Seychelles, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
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