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On August 8, 2024, Zimbabwe officially took over from Angola as the Chairman of the Standing Committee of Senior Officials of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
The transition marks the official handover of the SADC chairmanship from Angola to Zimbabwe, and is expected to be completed during the 44th SADC Heads of State and Government Summit on August 17, 2024.
In his inaugural address, Ambassador Chimbindi reiterated Zimbabwe’s commitment to working with all SADC member states to achieve the goals outlined in the SADC Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) 2020-2030.
Ambassador Chimbindi stressed the importance of strengthening trade facilitation to boost intra-regional trade and investment. He pointed out that key instruments such as the SADC Trade Protocol, the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) are opportunities to promote industrialization, enhance competitiveness, create decent jobs and alleviate poverty in the SADC region.
The theme of the 44th SADC Summit is “Promoting Innovation to Unlock Opportunities for Sustained Economic Growth and Development, Towards an Industrialized SADC”. Ambassador Chimbindi stressed that this is a critical moment for the region to recalibrate its collective approach to economic growth and development.
The outgoing Chair, Ambassador Nazaré José Salvador, reviewed the achievements under the theme of the 43rd SADC Summit, “Human and Financial Capital: Key Drivers of Sustainable Industrialization in the SADC Region”, adopted in Luanda, Angola, in August 2023. He commended the SADC Youth Forum held in Angola on July 3, 2024, which provided a platform for young entrepreneurs and leaders to engage in discussions on youth empowerment and participation in regional development.
Ambassador Salvador also stressed the need to speed up the operationalization of the Regional Development Fund, a financing mechanism designed to support economic development in the Southern African Development Community, and called for swift action to establish the Transformation University, an institution designed to provide the region with the skills it needs to advance its industrialization agenda.
In his final remarks as Chair, the Ambassador of El Salvador thanked the members of the Committee for their joint efforts to address regional challenges, such as the humanitarian crisis caused by droughts and floods triggered by El Niño. He stressed that the $5.5 billion Regional Humanitarian Appeal launched on March 20, 2024, is an important initiative to support Member States affected by these natural disasters.
The SADC Standing Committee of Senior Officials meeting precedes the Council of Ministers and the Summit of Heads of State and Government, scheduled for August 13-14, 2024 and August 17, 2024, respectively.
The SADC Standing Committee of Senior Officials is a technical advisory body to the Council of Ministers and is composed of the Permanent Secretaries or equivalent officials of each member country, usually from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Economic Planning or Finance.
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