Story by Oleen Ndori, Foreign Desk Editor
THE Southern African Development Community(SADC) Council of Ministers Ordinary Session which ended at the New Parliament Building in Mt Hampden this Friday made successful deliberations on strides made towards regional development.
Delivering his closing remarks, the Chairperson of the Council who is also Zimbabwe’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Professor Amon Murwira, noted the progress that has been made by the region in the implementation of the Regional Strategic Indicative Development Plan 2020-2030(RISDP 2020-2030) regional growth and integration.
“Our deliberations and the decisions that we have reached reflect our collective aspirations, that of a peaceful, inclusive, competitive, middle to high-income industrialised region, where all citizens enjoy sustainable economic well-being, justice, and freedom.
“Honourable Ministers, we have addressed pressing issues including peace and security, socio-economic and humanitarian concerns. We have noted the progress made in the implementation of our RISDP 2020-2030 and the attendant challenges. We all agree that these challenges provide an opportunity for us to learn, rethink and re-strategise in these ever-changing international systems. As we move forward, it is important to prioritise the implementation of our decisions and ensure that our words translate into tangible progress for the benefit of our people,” Professor Murwira said.
Meanwhile, the SADC-European Union(EU) Senior Officials Partnership Dialogue was held this Friday ahead of Saturday’s Ministerial meeting.
The meeting serves to reinforce relations between SADC and the EU in such areas as health, climate change, and women empowerment.
“We are pleased to note the progress made in the Africa-EU Investment Package. This support is crucial for advancing our regional integration agenda and fostering sustainable economic growth. In our discussions today, we look forward to productive exchanges in the implementation of joint initiatives. We are eager to explore how we can drive inclusive growth, especially in key sectors such as digital transition, climate, energy, transport, health, and immigration,” Chairperson of the SADC Senior Officials, Ambassador Albert Chimbindi said.
“The year 2025 is a very important year in the context of our relations continent to continent since we are celebrating the 25th anniversary of the first summit held between the EU and Africa in Cairo in 2000. Today, we are very much looking forward to kicking off this preparation of the ministerial, to certainly go through the joint communique, to agree on a common approach, to find a language where we can both recognise ourselves, certainly in a very open attitude to see how best we can address the issues that are still outstanding, and, of course, very much looking forward to tomorrow to the discussions on issues such as peace and security,” the Managing Director for Africa at the European Commission External Relations Service, H.E Rita Laranjinha said.
SADC and EU will also celebrate their partnership and the successful implementation of cooperation and financing agreements supporting SADC regional programmes in the areas of peace and security, trade in services, market access, institutional capacity building, natural resources management, transboundary water management, strategic corridors and agriculture, and digital transformation.
