Gaborone, August 14, 2015: SADC Members States have been called upon to push for people centred development that will improve the standard of living for their citizens.
New Chairperson for the SADC Council of Ministers, who is also Botswana’s Minister of Finance and Economic Development Planning, Kenneth Matambo, made the call Friday morning in his acceptance speech when he took over Chairmanship of the Council from Zimbabwe’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Simbarashe Mumbengewi.
Said Matambo: “We need to continue to look at ways and means of achieving improved standard of living for our people. We should aim for high impact activities and policies for people centred development.
We should aim to broaden the SADC economic bases with the aim of creating employment for our people,” said Matambo.
He said SADC should strive to be the most powerful and successful Regional economic and trade bloc on the African Continent whose citizens live in countries that are on the move.
The SADC Council of Minister’s meeting precedes the 35th SADC Heads of State and Government Summit that will take place from 17-18 August 2015 at the Gaborone International Convention Centre (GICC) under the theme, “Accelerating Industrialization of SADC Economies Through Transformation of Natural Endowment and Improved Human Capital.”
Speaking earlier, SADC Executive Secretary, Dr. Stergomena Lawrence Tax touted the strides that SADC had made in the last 12 months on a number of fronts.
She said major achievements included the formulation of the Industrialization Strategy and Roadmap 2015-2063, and finalization of the Revised Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) 2015-20 which a blueprint for development issues for the 15 Member bloc.
Dr. Tax said ‘these milestones are crucial in setting the region’s long term socio-economic landscape.’
She however called on Member States to commit themselves to ensure that the milestones set therein are implemented and progress is monitored effectively and continuously.
“I therefore call upon all stakeholders to work diligently to ensure that the targets we have set for ourselves on these important documents are realised for the better future of pour Region, in particular, the betterment of ADC citizens.”
In her statement, Dr. Tax also commended Malawi for being among the few countries in the SADC Region – Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Tanzania and Zambia – that have successfully migrated from analogue to Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) broadcasting by the International Telecommunications Union deadline of 17 June 2015.
Malawi is being represented at the Council meeting by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Dr. George Chaponda who has been joined by Dr. Allan Chiyembekeza, Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and water Development and Francis Kasaila, Minister of Transport and Public Works.
Chaponda had in an earlier interview assured the nation that it is the wish of government to see to it that Malawians get maximum benefits from the Summit that all citizens can enjoy.
The Council meeting will run from 14-15 August with the Heads of State and Government Summit taking place from 17-18 August at the Gaborone International Convention Centre (GICC).
On Thursday, Chaponda also informed the nation that President Professor Arthur Mutharika would not attend the Summit and had instead delegated him to represent the President in an effort at cost cutting on expenses.
