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The Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) met in Maseru, Kingdom of Lesotho on August 17-18 and was chaired by the Right Honourable Pakalitha Mosisili, Prime Minister of Lesotho.
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The Summit was officially opened by His Majesty King Letsie III of The Kingdom of Lesotho. In his opening remarks, he recognised that the citizens of SADC remained poor despite 26 years of regional cooperation. In this respect he recommended that
SADC carefully reviews its institutions to ensure that they deliver on regional integration and development.
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The Summit was attended by the following Heads of State and Government;
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The Right Hon. Prime Minister Fernando da Piedade Dias dos Santos
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HE President Festus G. Mogae
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The Right. Hon. Prime Minister Dr. Pakalitha Mosisili
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HE President Marc Ravalomanana
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HE President Bingu wa Mutharika
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The Right Honourable Prime Minister Dr. Navinchandra Ramgoolam
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HE President Armando EmРЅlio Guebuza
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HE President Hifikepunye Pohamba
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HE President Thabo Mbeki
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Rt Hon Mr Themba Dlamini Prime Minister
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HE President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete
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HE President Levy P. Mwanawasa
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HE President Robert G. Mugabe
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The DRC was represented by Mr. Mbusa Nyamwisi, Hon. Minister of Regional Cooperation
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The following organisations were also represented at the Summit: African Development Bank; Economic Commission for Africa; African Union; COMESA, and NEPAD.
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In his address to the opening session of the Summit, the outgoing SADC Chairperson, His Excellency Festus Mogae, President of the Republic of Botswana thanked Member States for the support they rendered to him during his tenure as chairperson.
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President Mogae observed that the implementation of SADC programmes shows limited progress in the achievement of SADC’s full integration and called for the scaling up of the implementation process. He felt that Member States needed to show commitment
by contributing significantly towards regional projects and programmes.
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President Mogae further observed that, SADC has committed itself to a timeline of achieving a Free Trade Area by 2008, and a Customs Union by 2010. He also called for the resolution of the issue of multiple membership which is delaying progress towards
deeper regional integration.
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The Incoming Chairperson, the Right Honourable Prime Minister, Pakalitha Mosisili, of the Kingdom of Lesotho and host of the Summit added his welcome to the SADC Heads of State and Government, and other delegates to the Kingdom of Lesotho. In accepting the Chairpersonship of SADC, Prime Minister Mosisili stated his preparedness to live up to the challenge.
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Pointing to the high expectations of the peoples of the region about the benefits of the regional body, Prime Minister Mosisili noted that SADC has delivered political freedom and democratic governance. However, SADC had not fully delivered on the eradication of poverty through regional economic integration although it is making progress towards establishing an environment of peace and stability, which are the foundations of rapid economic and social development.
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His Excellency President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete of the United Republic of Tanzania delivered his first speech at the official opening of the Summit. He gave assurances of his commitment and cooperation to meeting the milestones of regional integration.
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The official opening session also witnessed the ceremonial handover of the chairpersonship from His Excellency President Festus Mogae to the Right Honourable Prime Minister Mosisili. The Summit also elected H.E. President Levy Mwanawasa of the
Republic of Zambia as Deputy Chairperson of SADC.
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In his acceptance statement, the Right Hounourable Prime Minister Mosisili thanked the outgoing Chairperson for his excellent leadership of the organisation and undertook to build on these achievements.
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African Development Bank President, Mr. Donald Kaberuka informed the Summit that the Bank is committed to working with SADC in the implementation of the region’s agenda, especially in the field of infrastructure development. He also informed the
Summit that the ADB intends to open additional offices in a number of SADC countries.
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The UN Under-Secretary and Executive Secretary, of the Economic Commission for Africa Mr. Abdoullie Janneh, committed the ECA to providing SADC with technical assistance in its regional economic integration agenda.
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Addressing Summit for the first time as the Executive Secretary of SADC, Dr. Tomaz Augusto SalomРіo thanked the Heads of State and Government for the confidence they have placed in him. He stated his priorities as being the stabilisation of the Secretariat and improvement of its capacity to implement the key priorities of SADC.
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Summit also witnessed the award of prizes to the winners of the 2006 Regional Secondary Schools Essay Competition whose theme was “Food and Nutrition in the SADC region has been unsatisfactory for many years now. Discuss the causes of this situation and suggest possible actions which the people and governments of SADC should take to ensure that there is adequate food available for proper nutrition in the region”. The first prize for the Best Essay was won by Herry Mapesi, a student of Benjamin W. Mkapa High School in the United Republic of Tanzania. The Second Best Essay prize went to Boitshwarelo Mokgethi, a student of Maikano Community Junior Secondary School in the Republic of Botswana. The Third Best Essay prize was awarded to Lorraine Chitereka, a student of the National University of Lesotho International School (NULIS).
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The 2006 SADC Media Awards were also presented during the Summit to Mr. Alfredo Lazaru Mueche from Mozambique for photojournalism. Ms Fazila Dahall and Mr. Andre Smith both from the Republic of South Africa won the radio and television prizes respectively, while Mr.Takawira Musara from Zimbabwe won the print category.
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The Summit emphasised the need to scale up the implementation of the SADC integration agenda, and reiterated that the RISDP and SIPO are the main instruments in this regard. To this end, the Summit established a Task Force comprising Ministers responsible for Finance, Investment, Economic Development, Trade and Industry, to work with the Secretariat with a view to
defining the road map for eradicating poverty and propose measures for fast tracking implementation. They directed the Task Force to report to the Extra Ordinary Summit, to be held not latter than October 2006.
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The Summit noted with satisfaction the progress being made in the construction of the SADC Headquarters building in Gaborone, Botswana.
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The Summit noted the Report of Outgoing Chairperson which covered, amongst others, the progress on the regional integration process and implementation of the RISDP, SIPO, and varies Protocols.
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The Summit congratulated the Outgoing Chairperson for his untiring efforts to improve the performance of the Organisation and for steering it to greater heights in its integration agenda during his tenure of office.
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The Summit noted that while SADC recorded an overall 5.0% growth in real GDP in 2005, the region still needs to work hard as it remains below the 7% target set by the UN in the Millennium Development Goals for the developing nations to attain by 2015.
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The Summit received a report from the outgoing Chairperson of the Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation, His Excellency, Hifikepunye Pohamba, President of the Republic of Namibia. The report highlighted a number of issues concerning the
peace and security situation and other related issues in the region especially the successful holding of elections in the DRC.
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In this regard the Summit congratulated the people of the DRC for the peaceful and orderly manner in which they exercised their democratic right to vote.
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The Summit thanked His Excellency President Pohamba for efficiently spearheading the activities of the Organ during the past year. His Excellency President Pohamba handed over the chairpersonship of the Organ to His Excellency President Jakaya Mrisho
Kikwete of the United Republic of Tanzania and Summit elected Angola as Deputy Chairperson of the Organ.
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The Summit noted that the region continues to have high rates of mortality especially for women and children, which is worsened by the HIV epidemic that has reversed gains made by countries through immunisation and other health programmes. The Summit further noted with satisfaction that government expenditure on health, continued to improve.
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The Summit observed that programmes for combating the spread of HIV and Mitigating the impact of AIDS remain very high on the region’s agenda, and resolved that these interventions be up-scaled within the context of the Maseru Declaration on Combating
HIV and AIDS of 2004.
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The Summit also noted that issues of access, equity and quality of education at all levels are of great concern and the achievement of Education for All remains the key challenge in the region.
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With respect to Gender and Development, the Summit noted the progress being made toward achieving the set target of 30% women representation in decision making and reaffirmed its commitment to the new target of 50%.
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The Summit endorsed the process of drafting the Gender Protocol and further directed the Secretariat to ensure that thorough consultations with Member States are undertaken.
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The Summit noted that improvements have been recorded in the overall food security situation, attributed to improved access to inputs by farmers and also increased rainfall during the 2005/06 season. The Summit however noted the challenges facing the sector, especially the need to upscale the use of fertiliser.
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The Summit approved and signed the SADC Protocol on Finance and Investment.
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The Summit congratulated, Dr. Luis Mondlane of the Republic of Mozambique on his election as President of the SADC Tribunal.
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The Summit approved, the convening of a SADC Conference on Poverty and Development, and directed the Secretariat to make the necessary preparations in consultation with Mauritius.
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With respect to the membership of Seychelles, the Summit welcomed the application of Seychelles to rejoin SADC and resolved to engage in further consultations on the matter.
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The Summit mandated the SADC Secretariat to accelerate the process leading to the establishment of the SADC Regional Development Fund to finance development projects based on mobilisation of Member States own resources such as pension funds and any other regional funding sources.
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The Summit expressed its appreciation to the Government and people of the Kingdom of Lesotho for hosting them and for the warm hospitality extended to all delegates.
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The Right Honourable Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili officially closed the Summit.
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The next Ordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government will be held in Lusaka, Republic of Zambia in 2007.
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