Sunday Mail Reporter
Countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) must prioritise value addition of natural resources to drive industrialisation, create jobs, increase intra-regional trade, promote technological advancement and improve livelihoods.
This was said by outgoing chairperson of SADC, President Mnangagwa, in his speech to mark SADC Day, which is commemorated on August 17 every year.
The day is in remembrance of the signing of the 1992 SADC Declaration and Treaty by Heads of State and Government in Windhoek, Namibia, which formally established SADC and provided the legal framework for regional cooperation.
President Mnangagwa said youth, women and skilled human capital were key catalysts to unlocking sustainable development and industrialisation of the region.
“Today marks a historic occasion as we commemorate SADC Day. This day marks the beginning of a new era of unity, peace, solidarity, integration and cooperation. We reaffirm these values which have continued to define our regional community,” President Mnangagwa told regional leaders and citizens in remarks broadcast across the region.
“As the peoples of the SADC region, let us celebrate and honour our visionary founding fathers by recommitting to our shared vision of an integrated, industrialised, prosperous and peaceful SADC region.”
President Mnangagwa, who will be handing over the chairpersonship of the 16-member bloc to Madagascar’s President Andry Nirina Rajoelina today, emphasised that industrialisation was critical to establishing a prosperous region.
“We must scale up our collective efforts to value add and beneficiate our natural resources. Increased trade in what we produce within our respective countries is critically important in our quest to accelerate regional integration,” he said.
“The youth, women and our skilled human capital are key catalysts to unlocking sustainable development and industrialisation of the region.
“As such, innovation and entrepreneurship among these demographic groups must be encouraged and deliberately promoted.”
Skills development and education systems that recognise unique cultural and rich natural resources, he added, must be more integrated to make the regional bloc ready for the world of the future.
President Mnangagwa stressed the importance of embedding SADC’s Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan and the African Union’s Agenda 2063 into national development strategies to ensure coherent progress towards long-term goals.
“Integration of these frameworks into our national developmental plans should remain a priority,” he said.
He welcomed progress in regional infrastructure initiatives under the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa and the SADC Regional Infrastructure Development Master Plan.
These projects, he said, were designed to improve cross-border connectivity in energy, information and communication technologies, and transport.
The President said the region’s target to ensure universal energy access by 2040 could be realised by leveraging the vast solar and wind potential in SADC.
“By leveraging our vast solar and wind potential, we can power our industries and also lead the way to a greener future, while creating new opportunities and leading the way to a higher quality of life for our people,” he said.
Consolidating peace and security
The President underlined the importance of stability in fostering growth.
SADC has made strides in “silencing the guns” through efforts to resolve the conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo by working jointly with the East African Community.
“A stable and secure Southern Africa is better positioned to attract investment, foster innovation and create diverse opportunities,” he said.
“To date, we continue to make progress towards silencing the guns in our region and continent.”
He warned that no member state should be excluded from the integration process, saying: “The onus to build, develop, industrialise and ensure full integration of our region lies with us. No country in our region must be left behind.”
The President rooted his call for action in the bloc’s founding principles, dating back to the Southern African Development Coordination Conference of 1980.
“Let us, therefore, work together with greater unity of purpose as we foster peace, security and a prosperous Southern Africa for both present and future generations,” he said.
He once again reminded the region that the “SADC we want shall be built by its people”.
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