SADC plans to boost links between its maritime island member states |08 June 2012

The Seychelles delegation was led by the Minister for Foreign Affairs Jean-Paul Adam, who was accompanied by Joseph Nourrice, Seychelles’ resident high commissioner in Pretoria and ambassador to the SADC region.

“It is unfortunately a common occurrence that African continental organisations sometimes neglect the infrastructure needs of its maritime space. However by specifically recognising the infrastructure needs of its island members, SADC has shown that it is determined to be a leader in the promotion of the blue economy,” Minister Adam said.

“Seychelles has consistently been an advocate for ensuring that islands also benefit from continental development programmes, and we are extremely pleased that our views have been taken onboard,” the minister added.

The extraordinary summit, convened by José Eduardo Dos Santos, President of the Republic of Angola, the incumbent chair of SADC, examined the concept of a proposed Vision 2050 for SADC as well as the ongoing discussions for the infrastructure masterplan for the region.  The summit also turned its attention to issues of regional importance in terms of political stability and security.

As chair of the Indian Ocean Commission, the Seychelles delegation also urged the summit to ensure that momentum was not lost on the implementation of the Madagascar roadmap.  Minister Adam noted that the passing of the new law on amnesty represented a significant step forward and hence all the legislation requirements of the roadmap have now been met. 

The summit however took note that the question of the conditions of return of former President Marc Ravalomanane still need to be addressed in accordance with the spirit of the roadmap. 
The summit agreed that a meeting between former President Ravalomanane and current President Rajoelina was necessary as soon as possible, and the SADC Troika was tasked with organising this meeting as soon as possible.  

“The Indian Ocean Commission is a committed partner in the implementation of the SADC roadmap on Madagascar.  We hail the progress made, and urge the political leaders to respect the spirit of the roadmap and find solutions to the outstanding issues.  We continue to offer our solidarity to the Malagasy people in this very difficult period, and we also offer our full support to the work of the SADC Troika on this issue,” Minister Adam said.

The summit also discussed the implementation of the Global Political Agreement in terms of the power sharing agreement in Zimbabwe.  The summit urged all the parties to the agreement to set time frames for the full implementation of the roadmap towards elections.

The SADC summit in Luanda also reiterated its support for the candidature of Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Minister for Home Affairs of the Republic of South Africa for the position of chairperson of the African Union Commission in the elections to this post to be held in July in Lilongwe, Malawi. 

The summit also expressed its support for Namibia’s candidature to host the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change - the ‘Green Fund’, which will administer the funds allocated to climate change adaptation. 

In expressing his support for Namibia’s bid, Minister Adam said it was very appropriate that such a fund be situated in Africa, which is the continent most threatened by climate change.  The minister also noted that it was very relevant that Namibia make this bid, as middle income small countries such as Namibia and Seychelles were often excluded from climate change funding that was allocated to traditional funding institutions because of their relatively high GDP per capita.
 
“Namibia’s bid represents an important step in our quest for fairness in terms of international development mechanisms.  All SADC members must be activists in the fight against climate change,” Minister Adam said.