SADC Welcomes New Chairmanship Under President Mnangagwa, Promises Sustainable Development
Harare, Zimbabwe – In a significant regional development, President Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe has assumed the chairmanship of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) at the 44th Ordinary SADC Summit held in Harare.
In his keynote address, President Mnangagwa laid out a vision for the regional economic community centered on promoting innovation to unlock opportunities for sustainable economic growth and development towards an industrialized SADC.
“It is a clarion call for our respective countries to leverage the region’s human capital, to spur technology and innovation that will leap-frog the modernization and industrialization of SADC towards a higher quality of life for our citizens,” President Mnangagwa stated.
The Zimbabwean leader emphasized the importance of harnessing the potential of innovation to drive value addition and beneficiation of the region’s rich mineral and natural resources. He stressed that the time has come for SADC to realize maximum value from its God-given endowments.
President Mnangagwa also underscored the need to deploy innovative strategies across all sectors of the SADC economies to accelerate the region’s collective development. This includes scaling up investments in transformative agriculture and food systems to enhance climate resilience and food security.
The full operationalization of the SADC Humanitarian and Emergency Centre was also highlighted as a key priority under the new chairmanship.
In the realm of energy infrastructure, the President called for a broadening and expansion of the regional grid with a particular emphasis on renewable energy sources. This, he said, is critical for the modernization and industrialization of SADC.
The summit was graced by various dignitaries from the region, including the outgoing SADC Chairperson, President João Lourenço of Angola, and the Chairperson of the Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation, President Samia Hassan of Tanzania.
