The 44th Ordinary Summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Heads of State and Government, along with the preceding Senior Officials and Council of Ministers meetings, took place in Harare, Zimbabwe from 8th to 17th August 2024. The theme of the Summit was: “Promoting Innovation to Unlock Opportunities for Sustained Economic Growth and Development towards an Industrialized SADC.” President Ramkalawan nominated Ambassador Claude Morel as Special Envoy to represent him at the SADC Summit.
During the opening ceremony of the Summit, President João Manuel Lourenço of Angola formally handed over the chairmanship of SADC to President Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe.
The meetings were an opportunity for Member States to evaluate progress made on the region’s flagship integration initiative, the Regional Strategic Indicative Development Plan (RISDP) 2020-2030. Discussions also focused on regional peace and security, underscoring the importance of addressing security challenges to ensure a stable and secure environment for sustainable development across the SADC region.
In his interventions during the Council of Ministers, Ambassador Morel highlighted the need to incorporate specific modalities for island and coastal states into SADC regional programmes and projects, and emphasised the importance of improving maritime connectivity among its Member States.
The next SADC Summit will be held in Madagascar in August 2025.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Tourism – Foreign Affairs Department, Republic of Seychelles.