Africa-Press – Mozambique. The Southern African Development Community (SADC) will hold the 41st Ordinary Summit of Heads of State and government in Lilongwe, Malawi on 17 to 18 August 2021 with a limited number so as to observe COVID-19 protocols.
The summit will be preceded by a Council of Ministers meeting that will be held in hybrid format whereby limited number of delegates will attend physically, while others will attend through virtual platforms.
The Summit will be held under the theme “Bolstering Productive Capacities in the Face of COVID-19 Pandemic for Inclusive, Sustainable, Economic and Industrial Transformation”. The Theme seeks to accelerate the implementation of the SADC Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) 2020-2030, in particular, the Industrialisation and Market Integration pillar.
During the 41st Summit, H.E Dr Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera, President of Malawi will take over the chairpersonship of SADC from H.E Filipe Jacinto Nyusi, President of Mozambique who assumed the chairpersonship of SADC on 17 August, 2020 during the 40th SADC Summit.
The Summit will take stock of progress made in promoting and deepening Regional Integration in line with SADC’s aspirations as espoused in the RISDP 2020-2030 and Vision 2050, which envisage a peaceful, inclusive, competitive, middle- to high-income industrialised Region where all citizens enjoy sustainable economic well-being, justice, and freedom.
Among the key highlights of the 41st SADC Summit, the Executive Secretary of SADC Dr Stergomena Lawrence Tax will bid farewell to the SADC Heads of State and Government after serving for 8 years and a new SADC Executive Secretary will be sworn in.
Coincidentally, Dr Tax was sworn in as the SADC Executive Secretary at the 33rd SADC Summit which Malawi last hosted in Lilongwe in August, 2013.
The 41st SADC Summit will be preceded by the following meetings and events:
SADC in Brief
SADC is an organisation of 16 Member States established in 1980 as the Southern African Development Coordinating Conference (SADCC) and later in August,1992 transformed into the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The mission of SADC is to promote sustainable and equitable economic growth and socio-economic development through efficient, productive systems, deeper cooperation and integration, good governance and durable peace and security; so that the region emerges as a competitive and effective player in international relations and the world economy. Member States are Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
