34th ordinary SADC summit of Heads of State and Government in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe |18 August 2014

Regional integration tops agenda

President James Michel attended the opening ceremony of the 34th ordinary Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit of the Heads of State and Government in Victoria Falls yesterday morning, barely two hours after arriving in Zimbabwe.

President Michel is leading the Seychelles delegation in discussions at the Elephant Hills Resort in Victoria Falls.

The presidential delegation includes the secretary of state for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Barry Faure; the Seychelles ambassador to South Africa and permanent representative to SADC, Ambassador Claude Morel; as well as senior officials from the Ministry of Finance, Trade and Investment, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Office of the President.

The theme of the 2014 summit being followed by leaders of the 15-nation SADC is ‘SADC strategy for economic transformation: Leveraging the region's diverse resources for sustainable economic and social development through beneficiation and value addition’.

During the opening ceremony, Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe took over the chairmanship of SADC from Malawi President, Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika.

In his acceptance speech, incoming SADC chair, President Mugabe said he felt humbled and yet greatly honoured at being appointed the chairman of SADC, adding it is also an honour for his country Zimbabwe.

He welcomed new members to the SADC family -- President Hery Rajaonarimampianina of Madagascar and President Arthur Peter Mutharika of Malawi -- as well as new SADC executive secretary Dr Stergomena Lawrence Tax.

“As Zimbabwe, we look forward to making our contributions to the SADC agenda, and are confident that, together, we can ensure that the region focuses on interventions that have the greatest impact on the well-being of our citizens. As SADC we should not lose sight of our regional integration agenda, our focus and priorities. We also should not be tempted to introduce, or embrace, too many programmes which, in the end, we fail to fund from our own resources,” said President Mugabe.

He added that the current process underway to review the Regional Integrated Strategic Development Programme (RISDP) should not be a more academic exercise, but a reality check which should redirect the SADC.

“Our continued over-reliance on the generosity and goodwill of our cooperating partners tends to compromise our ownership and sustainability of our SADC programmes. How can we proudly claim SADC to be our own organisation when close to 60% of the programmes are externally funded? The review of the RISDP should therefore result in a SADC with fewer and focused programmes that are core to our vision of regional integration, which is aimed at strengthening our economies and the improvement of the lives of the people of our region,” continued President Mugabe.

Talking about the region’s “abundant resources”, President Mugabe said “these resources, instead of being sold in raw form, at very low prices must instead be exploited and beneficiated, in order to add value and cost to those products which we eventually export. This process should assist us in our efforts to industrialise, and in turn, increase employment opportunities for our people”.

He noted that SADC should wean itself from exporting raw materials, but instead seek to create value chains that lead to the exportation of finished goods.

“I am confident that in our discussions we will lay a foundation for the necessary strategies, as well as a plan of action on the beneficiation and value addition of our natural resources. Our material resources are capable of playing a pivotal role in the development of all SASC member states,” said Mr Mugabe who added that the region seems to have slowed down on market integration to instead focus more on the ongoing consolidation of the SADC free trade area.
In relation to peace, security and democracy, President Mugabe said the SADC’s scorecard remains encouraging as it is one of the most peaceful and stable regions on the continent.

He also thanked the SADC’s organ Troika for working tirelessly and providing rapid response to emerging challenges on peace and security.

The mediation process in Madagascar, he said, is a shining example of SADC’s characteristic resilience and patience.

President Mugabe also made a statement in solidarity with the Palestinian people, saying the Western world, which claims high moral ground on issues of human rights and sanctity of life, have looked with moral and academic indifference, while the Israeli army continues to butcher innocent women and children, all under the false guise that these children will be terrorists tomorrow or that these women will give birth to future terrorists.

During the summit, the SADC leaders are deliberating among others, on socio-economic issues that affect the region.

The SADC leaders will also consider the report on the review of the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP). The RISDP was said to be a comprehensive development and implementation framework guiding the Regional Integration agenda of SADC over a period of 15 years. Approved by SADC leaders in 2003, the RISDP is a blueprint for regional integration and development.

The plan was under review as part of efforts to realign the region’s development agenda in line with new realities and emerging global dynamics.

The first review was a desk assessment by the SADC secretariat in 2010, followed by an independent mid-term review in 2013, and another assessment done by a multi-stakeholder task force as directed by the 2013 SADC summit held in Lilongwe, Malawi.

The review process is now complete, and the revised blueprint was to be presented to regional leaders for approval. Once adopted, the plan is set to provide the impetus for deeper integration among SADC member states.

Another key issue for discussion is how southern Africa can come up with viable strategies that ensure that the region fully benefits from its vast natural resources.

This is in realisation of the fact that SADC continues to be among the poorest in the world despite the abundant natural resources since the majority of SADC countries do not have beneficiation and value addition policies, hence the bulk of the value-addition takes place elsewhere and benefiting others.

SADC is also defining a new development blueprint that is expected to shape the region's integration agenda until 2050. In this regard, the SADC Vision 2050 will also be discussed.

The SADC vision 2050 aims to provide a framework for a long-term vision as the region sought to position itself in emerging global and continental issues.

Seychelles joined the SADC in September 1997 in order to enhance south-south cooperation, but the country withdrew from the organisation in June 2003 due to financial and human resource constraints. It re-joined the SADC on August 17, 2008.

Text and photo Gerard Govinden in Zimbabwe