from ODIRILE TOTENG in Gaborone, Botswana
Botswana Bureau
GABORONE, (CAJ News) – PREPARATIONS for the Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit to be held in Harare, Zimbabwe in August are gathering momentum.
The leaders of the 16-nation regional bloc will meet under the aegis of the 44th Ordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government in Harare on August 17.
It will be held under the theme, “Promoting Innovation to Unlock Opportunities for Sustained Economic Growth and Development towards an Industrialised SADC.”
The theme calls for the region to collectively harness science, technology and innovation to support the modernisation and industrialisation of the region.
Host president, Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa, will take over the chairpersonship of SADC from his Angolan counterpart President João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço.
Among some of the key issues, the SADC summit will receive the report of the Chairperson of the Organ on Politics, Defense and Security Cooperation; review progress on the implementation of the priorities of the SADC Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) 2020-2030.
The summit will also receive an update of the Food Security and the Impact of the El Nino-Induced Drought and floods in SADC Region and progress on the implementation of the 43rd SADC Summit theme, which is “Human and Financial Capital: The Key Drivers for Sustainable Industrialisation in the SADC Region.”
The SADC Summit is responsible for the overall policy direction and control of functions of the bloc, ultimately making it the policy-making institution of SADC.
The Ordinary Summit of the Botswana-headquartered SADC is held every year.
A number of meetings will precede the summit.
These include the ongoing seventh SADC Industrialisation Week in Harare.
– CAJ News