Pretoria - President Jacob Zuma will lead a South African delegation to the 35th Ordinary Southern African Development Community (SADC) Summit of Heads of State and Government on August 17 and 18 in Gaborone, Botswana, the presidency said on Saturday.
The theme for the summit would be “Accelerating Industrialisation of SADC Economies Through Transformation of Natural Endowment and Improved Human Capital”, the presidency said in a statement.
It was expected that the summit would focus on, among other things, implementation of the recently adopted regional industrialisation strategy approved during the Extraordinary SADC Summit in April in Harare, Zimbabwe.
The summit was also expected to review progress towards achieving the objectives outlined in the Revised Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) 2015 – 2020.
The RISDP is the blueprint for the SADC programme of action on achieving regional economic development and will guide the implementation of SADC programmes over the next five years, with a particular focus on industrial development and market integration, infrastructure in support of regional integration, and peace and security cooperation, among other issues.
“On matters of peace, stability, and security in the region, South Africa will give a report to the summit on matters relating to the work of the Organ on Politics, Defence, and Security Cooperation,” the presidency said.
“South Africa was elected in August 2014 in Zimbabwe to chair this most important organ which is charged with the maintenance of peace, stability, and security in the SADC region.”
In the past year, SADC had supported mediation, peacekeeping, peace-building, and post conflict reconstruction and development efforts in response to the political and security challenges in Lesotho, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Madagascar.
Zuma would be accompanied by Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, International Relations and Cooperation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies, State Security Minister David Mahlobo, and Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas, the presidency said.
ANA