Luanda – The President of Malawi, Lazarus Chakwera, took over this Tuesday the leadership of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), with the focus on increasing production as one of the priorities of his mandate.
In his speech at the organization's 41st Summit, which began this Tuesday in Malawi's Cpiatal (Lilongwe), the Malawian statesman highlighted the "great challenge" of assuming the SADC presidency at a time of full Covid-19 pandemic, with a huge deficit of vaccines.
Lazarus Chakwera, who received from his Mozambican counterpart, Filipe Nyuzi, the portfolio of the SADC presidency, recognized the importance of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) for the resolution of many of the situations that affect Africans.
The SADC Summit of Heads of State and Government - scheduled to end Wednesday, in which the Angolan delegation is led by Foreign minister Téte António, representing president João Lourenço - among other topics, will address the election of the organization's new executive secretary.
The new head of the secretariat, to be elected from among candidates Faustin Mukela Luanga, from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Elias Mpedi Magosi, from Botswana, will replace Stergomena Lawrence Tax (Tanzania), who stayed in the position for eight years.
It will also assess progress made in promoting and deepening regional integration, in line with the aspirations of SADC, as defined in the RISDP 2020-2030 and "Vision 2050", which envision a peaceful, inclusive, competitive, industrialized region, with a high average income, where all citizens enjoy sustainable economic well-being, justice and freedom.
During the event, which takes place in face-to-face and virtual format, the SADC leaders will sign some protocols, including the one on mobility in the region, with the suppression of visas in passports.
The SADC summit takes place under the motto “Bolstering productive capacities in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, for inclusive, sustainable, economic and industrial transformation”.
The motto aims to encourage the implementation of the SADC 2020-2030 Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP), with particular emphasis on the pillars of industrialization and market integration.
Currently, SADC has a joint force in Mozambique to help this country fight terrorism in Cabo Delgado province. The sending of the joint mission was approved in June, during the organization's Extraordinary Summit, which took place in the Mozambican capital, Maputo.
Angola participates in this mission with 20 soldiers, 8 officers, who are part of the command of the Stand-by Force, 2 in the Regional Cooperation Mechanism and 10 crew members of a strategic aerial projection aircraft (Russian cargo ship Il-76).
SADC was created on August 17, 1992, in Windhoek, Namibia, with the aim of promoting economic growth and development, poverty reduction, increasing the quality of life of the population, peace and security and strengthening and the consolidation of cultural, historical and social affinities in the region.
It is a sub-regional organization comprising 15 Member States, namely South Africa, Angola, Botswana, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), Lesotho, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Seychelles , Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
