SADC 36th Ordinary Summit of Heads of State And Government opens in Lozitha, Swaziland

The 36th Ordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government opened this morning in Lozitha, Swaziland under the theme ” Resource Mobilization for Investment in Sustainable Energy Infrastructure for Inclusive SADC Industrialization for the Prosperity of the Region”.

In his Keynote Address by President Khama, before handing over the Chairmanship to His Majesty King Mswati III, Incoming Chairperson of SADC, the outgoing Chairperson, His Excellency Lieutenant General Dr. Seretse Khama Ian Khama, President of Botswana,  mentioned that it is encouraging to note that efforts towards the region’s new process of industrialization continues to gain momentum and the work on the preparation of the Industrialization Action Plan is at an advanced stage.

He further noted that during his tenure of office, he was concerned that the region continued to experience deteriorating access to water and energy supply, food insecurity, inherent poverty and escalation poaching and illegal wildlife trade. As a result he convened three thematic workshops for Food Security and Poverty Eradication, Enhanced Access to Energy and Water and Anti-Poaching in order to face these situations

Delivering his acceptance speech, His Majesty King Mswati III invited the Head of States to support the implementation of the 36th Summit theme during his chairmanship.

In her remarks, SADC Executive Secretary H.E. Dr. Stergomena Lawrence Tax mentioned among others that a 5 year Plan Investment Plan for implementation of the SADC Regional Agricultural Policy (RAP) 2014 which seeks to ensure long term food security and reduction of social and economic vulnerability was finalized. In the area of Infrastructure, she reported that the roll out of regional projects by SADC Regional Infrastructure Development Master Plan (RIDMP” is on course. She further appreciated the support accorded to her by the professionals and experts at the Secretariat. In particular she thanked the Directors whose tenure of office will come to an end before the next Summit and wished them the best in their future endeavours.

The opening ceremony was also enhanced by the awards ceremony to the winners of the 2016 SADC Secondary School Essay Competition and Media Awards by  Lt. Gen. Dr. Seretse Khama Ian Khama and SADC Executive Secretary .

Guest of honorH. E. Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini, Chairperson of the African Union Commission and Dr. Carlos Lopes, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa delivered their respective speeches of support towards SADC and pledged their unwavering commitment to continue to support the SADC agenda.

The Official Opening ended with all the Heads of State and Government present or representatives  proceeding to sign the Aide Memoire.