His Majesty King Mswati III of the Kingdom of Eswatini says the Southern African Development Community (SADC) must accelerate implementation of programmes that aim to increase the volume of trade among Member States and thereby improve the livelihoods of the citizens of the community.
His Majesty King Mswati was speaking when he received a courtesy call from the Executive Secretary of SADC His Excellency Mr. Elias M. Magosi, on 11th October 2022.
The courtesy call is part of the SADC Executive Secretary’s programme to introduce himself to the Heads of State and Government in the region, share his ideas about a sustainable approach to expedite regional integration, achieve peace and security, as well as seek guidance and direction from the region’s leadership.
The SADC Executive Secretary has so far paid courtesy calls on their Excellencies for the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republics of Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The SADC Executive Secretary highlighted that, among his priorities during his tenure, was to unblock the bottlenecks which slowed regional integration, industrialisation and easy access to markets in the region.
“A lot of good Protocols and legal instruments have been developed to facilitate deeper regional integration and to ensure that SADC achieves its purpose, but the region has gaps which affect the pace of implementation on what has been agreed”, H.E. Magosi said.
H.E. Magosi said that a number of the SADC Protocols are not in force as they are yet to be acceded to, or ratified by the required two-third majority, and that he has started to engage Member States to support them in their processes to ensure that the Protocols become operational.
His Majesty King Mswati III welcomed the SADC Executive Secretary, and his proposals, and assured him of the support of the Kingdom of Eswatini on his ideas and the proposed approach to expedite regional integration and industrialisation in the Community.
“Studies still show that there is not much intra-regional trading taking place within our region, so we need to change that, and develop programmes that will promote easy and seamless trading among the countries so that we improve our economies and the lives of our people,” His Majesty King Mswati III told the SADC Executive Secretary.
During the meeting, His Majesty the King, who was accompanied by the Prime Minister, His Excellency Cleopas Sipho Dlamini, Her Excellency Senator Thulisile Dladla, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Hon. Pholile Dlamini-Shakantu the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs and senior officials from the Government of the Kingdom of Eswatini, updated SADC Executive Secretary on social, economic, peace and security in the Kingdom.
The SADC Executive Secretary was accompanied by the Director for the Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Affairs, Mr Jorge Cardoso, the Head of Communications and Public Relations Ms Barbara Lopi, and Mr Wazha Omphile the Project Management Officer in the Directorate for Policy Planning and Resource Mobilisation the SADC Secretariat.
H.E. Magosi is the seventh Executive Secretary of SADC who assumed his position on 1st September, 2021, following his appointment at the 41st SADC Summit of Heads of State and Government held in Lilongwe, Malawi in August, 2021.