Sadc leaders start jetting in
Presidents from Southern African Development Community (Sadc) countries start jetting into the country ahead of the 41st Sadc Heads of State and Government Summit which starts Tuesday in Lilongwe.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi is expected in the country this morning at 07:50am followed by South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa, who will jet in at 8:30am.
Zimbabwe’s Emmerson Mnangagwa is expected to land at Kia at 2pm; outgoing Sadc Chairperson Filipe Jacninto Nyusi is expected in the country at 3:45pm while the time of arrival for Tanzania President Samia Suluhu Hassan was yet to be communicated.
During the summit, Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera is expected to assume the chairmanship of Sadc from Nyusi.
The summit will be held under the theme ‘Bolstering Productive Capacities in the Face of Covid Pandemic for Inclusive, Sustainable, Economic and Industrial Transformation’.
Ramaphosa is expected to present a report on the facilitation process in the Kingdom of Lesotho to the Sadc Troika Summit of the Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation.
On his part, Masisi will, as outgoing chair of the Sadc Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation, present a progress report on the status of regional peace and security before handing over the chairmanship of the organ to South Africa.
During the Summit, Sadc heads of State and Government are expected to deliberate on developments related to Sadc’s priority areas such as peace and security and the implementation of the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan 2020-30.
The summit will also examine the performance of Sadc institutions and review the overall implementation of Sadc socio-economic programmes with particular focus on Covid pandemic response in the region.
The summit started on Monday last week, with Malawi’s Foreign Affairs Secretary Luckie Sikwese assuming the chairmanship of the Sadc Committee of Senior Officials, taking over from Ambassador Carlos Manuel Carlos Rodrigues Da Costa of Mozambique.
On Friday, Malawi’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Eisenhower Mkaka assumed the chairmanship of the Sadc Council of Ministers, taking over from Da Costa.
Heads of State will be meeting in Lilongwe at a time the latest Sadc Synthesis Report has revealed that 47.6 million people in Southern Africa are food insecure.
Speaking on Saturday, after the end of the Sadc Council of Ministers meeting, Mkaka said some countries in the region had surplus food which would be shared with countries facing starvation.
