Lusaka, 22 May 2015 (ECA) - The extra-ordinary summit of the Heads of State and Government for Southern African Development Community (SADC) approved the industrialization strategy and Roadmap was approved during its meeting in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe on April 29, 2015.
The Summit which was convened and chaired by Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe, approved the SADC Industrialization Strategy and Roadmap and directed the finalization of a costed plan of action to accelerate its implementation. The Summit further directed that the strategy be accorded top priority in the implementation of the Revised Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan for 2015-2020.
The SADC Industrialization Strategy is anchored on three pillars of Industrialization, Competitiveness and Regional Integration, and premised on a three-phase long perspective covering 2015 -2063. The Industrialization Strategy is aligned to the Continental Vision, Agenda 2063, a global strategy aimed at optimizing the use of Africa’s resources for the benefit of all Africans.
Reaffirming the importance of industrial development in poverty alleviation and the economic emancipation of the people of the region, the Summit underscored the critical importance of infrastructure in support of industrialization and the need to explore appropriate funding mechanisms to support the implementation of the Industrialization Strategy.
The Summit also noted progress on the COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite initiative and the launch of the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) scheduled to take place in June 2015. The Summit also noted the state of preparedness for the launch of the negotiations for the Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) and adopted a common SADC position on industrialization within the context of the CFTA negotiations.
ECA provided technical support towards development and production of the SADC Industrialization Strategy and Roadmap.
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