Africa-Press – Botswana. President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi was among other regional Heads of State for the 43rd SADC Ordinary Summit in Luanda, Angola yesterday, where the outgoing SADC chairperson, President of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Dr Félix Tshisekedi, gave a keynote address.
Dr Tshisekedi said SADC had, since its establishment in 1980, consistently demonstrated unfailing solidarity and unity in addressing the many challenges facing the region.
“Despite some challenges, our region continues to do well, as shown by the African Union Commission’s Multidimensional Regional Integration Index, which gave SADC a high score for regional integration, particularly in terms of financial, infrastructural, trade and environmental integration,” he said.
He said as a united regional community of 16 member states, with a combined gross domestic product of around $720 billion and a total population of over 360 million, the SADC region had a market with considerable potential for investment and economic development.
President Tshisekedi said industrialisation was a priority for the region, as it was necessary to support regional integration.
In this regard, he noted that for the 42nd Ordinary Summit of the SADC Heads of State in 2022, the DRC had focused on the theme: Promoting Industrialisation Through Agro-processing, Mineral Beneficiation and Regional Value-chains for inclusive and Resilient Economic Growth.
“This theme took into account the need to improve the deployment of SADC’s industrialisation and market integration programmes as set out in the SADC Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP, 2020-2030),” he said.
He stated that it was through such themes that the region intended to drive forward the implementation of the SADC Industrialisation Strategy and Roadmap, which would help the region’s economies diversify away from dependence on primary commodities such as raw minerals and agricultural products, and focus on high value-added manufactured goods.
President Tshisekedi said what was also delighting was that this year’s theme: Human and Financial Capital: The Key Drivers for Sustainable Industrialisation in the SADC Region, would enable the region to continue to drive forward the industrialisation agenda by developing, mobilising and harnessing human and financial capital.
He thus challenged his counterparts to ensure that the aspirations of SADC citizens for sustainable economic wellbeing, justice and freedom were met.
“This means that we should relentlessly deploy our energies and channel our resources towards realising the aspirations of our founders,” he said.
To that extent, he said SADC was still a relevant platform to promote regional integration and the economic and socio-political development of regional communities.
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