President Cyril Ramaphosa He is expected to pay a working visit to Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Tuesday to attend the 42nd Ordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
Ramaphosa will be accompanied by Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Dr. Naledi Pandor; Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele and Deputy Minister of Defense and Military Veterans Thabang Makwetla.
The regional leaders will discuss the development of the region under the theme “Promoting industrialization through agro-processing, mineral beneficiation and regional value chains for inclusive and sustainable economic growth”.
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The theme highlights efforts to strengthen the implementation of the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) for 2020-2030.
South Africa levers SADC as a major foreign policy instrument to achieve regional development and integration in South Africa.
The SADC Summit will take place on 17 and 18 August 2022 at the People’s Palace (Parliament Building).
Member States will receive an update on the progress made in the implementation of the strategic policies and preliminary decisions of the summit since the last meeting in August 2021, held in Lilongwe, Malawi.
Given the frequency of natural disasters in the region, the summit is expected to adopt a Memorandum of Agreement on the establishment and implementation of the SADC Humanitarian and Emergency Operations Center (SHOC) to be located in Mozambique.
The summit will also discuss a proposed amendment to the protocol on tourism development in the region, as well as an amendment to the Southern African Development Community Treaty to recognize the SADC parliament as a SADC institution.
Ramaphosa, as the outgoing chair of the SADC body on politics, defense and security cooperation and mediator of the peace process in Lesotho, will lead discussions at the summit of the SADC troika, which is responsible for promoting peace and security in the region.
During the summit, the President of the Democratic Republic of Malawi, Lazarus Chakwera, will take over the SADC Chairmanship, Felix Tsisekedi Tilomba.
Malawi assumed the chairmanship on 17 August 2021 during the 41st SADC Summit held in Lilongwe, Malawi.
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