Victoria Falls – The SADC summit underway in Zimbabwe should take industrialisation seriously and economic integration should be a priority in southern Africa, Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene told SAnews.
“I would imagine that with the number of engagements that we are having in the course of two days, we are likely to achieve our goal of industrialisation. I am sure SADC leaders do believe that industrialisation of the continent and our region should take priority, and I believe this summit will emphasise that,” Minister Nene said on Monday.
Regional leaders from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states have been meeting in the resort town since Sunday to discuss the latest developments and challenges facing the region.
Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe officially took over as the new chairperson of SADC until the next summit. He took over the chairmanship of the regional bloc from his Malawian counterpart, Peter Mutharika, at the 34th SADC Ordinary Summit.
The theme for the summit -- SADC Strategy for Economic Transformation: Leveraging the Region’s Diverse Resources for Sustainable Economic and Social Development through Beneficiation and Value Addition --has been inspired by the need for the region to beneficiate more of its mineral resources, instead of exporting raw materials.
“The theme also talks to industrialisation and taking regional integration to another level and making sure that Africa rises,” Minister Nene said.
He said what leaders should take home at the end of the summit is a bold decision on how SADC can better utilise its resources for economic growth and employment.
“We need to seriously think about adding value, rather than exporting jobs and our products unprocessed. For us, it is very important that we begin to think differently and do things differently. What we need to take back is that as the region, we are together in taking forward industrialisation and beneficiation,” he said.
Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies said a decision was expected today on how different countries would approach the issue of mineral beneficiation and cross-border infrastructure development.
“Africa’s development does depend on industrialisation and beneficiation, and only on the basis of that can the continent move forward. We are taking these matters seriously and I think the leaders speak in one voice in this regard,” Minister Davies said.
On Saturday, President Mugabe, as the new chairperson, called on the regional grouping not to introduce too many programmes which SADC might fail to carry through or finance on its own, adding that member states should not lose sight of the group’s integration agenda.
Ebola
Meanwhile, leaders are expected to come out of the conference on Monday with a joint position on Ebola.
Calls intensified ahead of the summit that the region needs to come up with a joint response to the outbreak, which has claimed more than 1 000 lives in West Africa since the first cases were detected in earlier this year.
SADC has so far not recorded any confirmed case of the deadly disease. Member countries have responded differently to the outbreak, with some, including South Africa, screening passengers and discouraging travel to the affected countries.
Others have taken stricter measures like banning travel to the four affected countries of Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia. - SAnews.gov.za
