DURBAN, South Africa, Aug. 18 — The 46th Ordinary Summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Heads of State and Government concluded late Monday in South Africa’s coastal city of Durban, with renewed commitments to accelerating regional integration and advancing industrialization.
Held under the theme “Resilient, Sustainable, and Inclusive Industrialization through Infrastructure Development, Agricultural and Critical Minerals Transformation in Pursuit of a Just World,” the summit brought together leaders and representatives of SADC member states to discuss regional economic development, industrialization, infrastructure, agriculture, peace and security, and other issues of common concern.
The summit also marked the beginning of South Africa’s 12-month term as SADC chair, with the country’s president Cyril Ramaphosa elected as the new chairperson.
Addressing the closing session, Ramaphosa said regional leaders had reviewed the peace and security situation in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), northern Mozambique and Madagascar, and reaffirmed their commitment to peaceful solutions, dialogue, and regional and multilateral cooperation.
Ramaphosa said industrialization is central to economic development, stressing the need to create jobs, expand productive capacity, add value to minerals, strengthen agriculture and agro-processing, develop new technologies and build competitive regional value chains.
“We are committed to building the infrastructure that binds our economies together,” he said, calling for faster development of regional corridors linking production centers to markets, landlocked countries to ports, and businesses and people across the region.
The communique issued at the conclusion of the summit called on member states to deepen regional integration, strengthen trade and investment, mobilize domestic resources and build collective resilience. It also urged countries to remove non-tariff barriers, harmonize standards and improve cross-border logistics to increase intra-regional trade.
Migration was another issue addressed by the summit. Against the backdrop of tensions surrounding migration, the communique said the summit had received an update from South Africa on migration governance and called for coordinated, multidimensional dialogue to address the underlying drivers of migration and develop comprehensive, sustainable and effective responses.
The summit approved the agreement establishing the SADC Tourism UNIVISA and called on member states to sign it, saying the initiative would facilitate travel across the region, promote tourism and investment, and advance regional integration.
On public health, Southern African countries called for stronger regional preparedness through improved disease surveillance, timely information sharing and coordinated responses to outbreaks and pandemics. They also called for continued support to the DRC in its response to the Ebola outbreak.
Ramaphosa said the next phase for SADC should focus on implementation, with progress measured not simply by agreements reached but by tangible results such as improved infrastructure, reduced border-crossing times, increased intra-regional trade, new industrial capacity and job creation.
The summit elected Zambia as the incoming SADC chair, with the 47th SADC summit scheduled to be held in Zambia in 2027.(Namibia Daily News / Xinhua)
