18 Aug 2024

President Dr  Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe has officially taken over the Chairmanship of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), succeeding Angola President João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço.

In his acceptance speech, President Mnangagwa committed to advancing the regional agenda to uplift all citizens of the SADC member states.

Dr Mnangagwa said this year’s theme, “Promoting Innovation to Unlock Opportunities for Sustainable Economic Growth and Development Towards an Industrialised SADC”, brought to the fore the role of innovation in sustained economic transformation and development.

He said it was a clarion call for member states to leverage the region’s human capital and spur technology and innovation that would leap-frog the modernisation and industrialisation of SADC towards a higher quality of life of its citizens.

He pointed out the urgent imperative to harness innovation for producing goods and services through value addition and beneficiation of the region’s abundant mineral and natural resources

“The people of the region fought for our liberation and the economic value of our land and its resources,” he stated. “The time is now; we must realise maximum value from our God-given natural endowments, ” he said.

President Mnangagwa said the importance of deploying innovative strategies across all sectors of the economies to accelerate the realisation of collective development agenda could not be over-emphasised.

“This is more so as the Fourth Industrial Revolution continues to impact and transform the way we operate and execute our work. Our SADC bloc cannot afford to fall behind in the new and fast changing frontier of science, technology and innovation,” he said.

He urged member states to align their aspirations with actionable plans as outlined in the SADC Industrialisation Strategy and Roadmap (2015-2063). Dr Mnangagwa expressed satisfaction with the preceding SADC Industrialisation Week and Investment Forum, which successfully provided a platform for public-private engagement to discuss innovative approaches.

Dr Mnangagwa said institutions of higher learning, academia, scientists and innovators must equally strengthen linkages to further drive the innovation, modernisation and industrialisation of the region.

“In the case of Zimbabwe, we have set up several innovation hubs at all State Universities and related institutions.

These have achieved remarkable success in developing a sense of self-belief, skills and competencies.

Further, initiatives under the programmes have transformed livelihoods, communities and the economy as a whole, through the production of appropriate goods and services,” he said.
Dr Mnangagwa said SADC could only be modernised and industrialised by its own citizens through individual and collective efforts. He said the region continued to experience climate change induced natural disasters which had had far reaching negative impacts on human and food security.

In light of the lessons learnt, Dr Mnangagwa said investments in transformative agriculture and food systems should be scaled up through robust climate mitigation strategies and resilience building mechanisms.

Giving a maiden address at the summit Namibian President Dr Nangolo Mbumba pledged on working to achieve SADC goals and called for collective efforts in bringing peace to the region.

He paid homage to those who paid with their lives in pursuit of peace. He said the re-emergence of attacks in the region remained a challenge that needed to be addressed.

He shared the legacy of his predecessor the late Dr Hage Geingob whom he described as having had unwavering commitment to regional integration, peace and economic development.

“I shall continue from where my predecessor left off by remaining committed to the goals and principles of our regional organization and the aspirations of our people.

Furthermore, I will tirelessly endeavour to play my part in ensuring that their dreams and hopes for a better future will materialise into a region characterised by peace, unity and economic prosperity,” he added.

He said he joined in discharging the cardinal responsibility of contributing to the advancement of initiatives and programmes aimed at fostering economic growth and addressing regional challenges for the betterment of the living conditions of the people. Ends