Pretoria-Integration and industrialisation was on top of the agenda of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Council of Ministers Meeting in Harare, Zimbabwe on Monday.
A South African government delegation led by the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Minister of Trade and Industry, Dr Rob Davies; and the Minister of Finance, Nhlanhla Nene are also part of the meeting.
The Council of Ministers Meeting is taking place ahead of the Extra-Ordinary SADC Summit of Heads of State and Government scheduled for 29 April, themed "Regional Strategy and Roadmap for Industrialisation."
The focus of the meeting of the SADC Council of Ministers is on the implementation of the decisions taken at the 34th Ordinary SADC Summit of Heads of State and Government held in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, in August 2014, which mandated the Ministers of Trade in the region to work on a draft Strategy and Roadmap on Industrialisation.
In this regard, the SADC Council of Ministers will consider the draft Regional Industrialisation Strategy and Roadmap and the revised Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) for forwarding to the SADC Heads of State and Government for approval.
The SADC Ministers are also expected to discuss preparations for the upcoming Third COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite Summit (Egypt, June 2015) and launch of the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA), as well as preparations for the launch of negotiations for the Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA).
South Africa is one of 15 Member States of SADC and currently chairs the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation.
Other Member States include Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.-SAnews.gov.za
