Gaborone - The Executive Secretary of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), Elias Magosi, on Friday called for the urgent entry into operation of the Regional Development Fund (RDF) as a way of overcoming the organization's financial difficulties.
According to Magosi, the region urgently needs to explore innovative and sustainable financing mechanisms if it is to overcome the budgetary problems it currently faces to implement programs.
"It is therefore vital that the region speeds up the entry into operation of the SADC Regional Development Fund," Magosi said in his speech during the visit of the Angolan head of state, João Lourenço, to the SADC headquarters in Gaborone.
The SADC Secretary explained that the Secretariat is doing its part, in collaboration with the African Development Bank (AfDB), to find approaches to make this a reality, but that the member states must complete the process of signing and ratifying the documents.
Elias Magosi reassured the Angolan statesman and SADC Chairperson that the Secretariat remains committed to supporting him in implementing the SADC theme chosen for his mandate, focusing on the role of human and financial capital in the sustainable industrialization of the region.
To this end, Magosi said, the Secretariat is supporting member states in promoting and developing the value chains identified in agro-processing and other segments, in an effort to strengthen and leverage their benefits at regional and global levels.
Magosi reinforced that the growing development needs of the region and the preservation of peace and security require extensive efforts to mobilize resources to support the implementation of the regional integration agenda.
In this context, he said, the Secretariat is mobilizing resources for prioritized projects covering the six strategic priority areas of the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) 2020-2030.
According to the SADC official, as a result of these efforts, the Secretariat mobilized 185 million US dollars last year, which ended in March 2024, to support the implementation of the RISDP 2020-2030.
"Despite this progress, we still need more resources to implement the prioritized projects as we pursue regional integration and development," Magosi said.
According to the executive secretary, the estimated resources needed to implement the priority projects identified in the RISDP 2020-2030 exceeds 50 billion US dollars.IZ/ART/AMP
