Mbeki for the SADC Ministerial and Summit
12 August 2007
Pretoria â South African Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma will today
Sunday, 12 August 2007 depart for Lusaka, Zambia, ahead of President Thabo
Mbeki, for the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Council of
Ministers meeting and Summit of Heads of State and Government scheduled for 14
to 17 August 2007 respectively. President Mbeki will leave for Lusaka on
Wednesday, 15 August.
South Africa is participating in both the SADC Ministerial and Summit as
part of its priority of strengthening and consolidating SADC as a sub-regional
economic bloc and a vehicle for achieving sustainable regional integration and
development.
The SADC Ministerial and Summit take place within the context of the
expected tabling of:
* political reports on the situation in Zimbabwe, Lesotho and the Democratic
Republic of the Congo (DRC)
* proposed launch of the SADC Brigade
* integrated Committee of Ministers (ICM) that will include areas of:
* trade, industry, finance and investment
* infrastructure and services
* the water sector
* food, agriculture and national resources
* social and human development and special programmes
* a progress report on the financing, design and construction of the new SADC
headquarters
* a report of the task force on the review of operations of the Integrated
Committee of Ministers.
The SADC Council of Ministers is also expected to discuss the regional
integration process through consideration of the report of the Ministerial Task
Force on Regional Economic Integration. Linked to this, will be discussion on
the outcomes of the African Union Summit held in July 2007 in Accra, Ghana, and
the implications thereof on SADC as a Regional Economic Community (Rec). In
this vein a report on continental integration including the African Union and
New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad) and inter-regional integration
will be presented to Council.
Issued by: Department of Foreign Affairs
12 August 2007
