Harare, 18 August 2022 (TDI): The Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Fredrick M.M. Shava of Zimbabwe, signed an agreement to amend the SADC Treaty today.

The agreement’s purpose is to include the SADC parliament as a Regional Body institution.

 

SADC Parliamentary Forum

The SADC Parliamentary Forum, the regional parliament, was approved at the last summit in Lilongwe in August 2021. The SADC Regional Parliament ensures broader citizen participation in regional affairs.

The Regional Parliament facilitates extensive debate on regional issues. It accelerates the implementation of SADC protocols that need to be ratified and domesticated into national legislation.

To prevent contradictions, the regional parliament observes and respects the sovereignty of SADC member states through consultation and liaising with other SADC institutions. The Council of Ministers is the medium by which recommendations are channeled for consideration by the Summit.

Zimbabwe’s Chairmanship of Regional Body

During the 34th SADC Heads of State Summit in Victoria Falls in 2014, Zimbabwe introduced the industrialization agenda after assuming the chairmanship of the regional body.

This year’s theme of the Summit in Kinshasa resonates with the industrialization theme conceived in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. Like all other SADC members, Zimbabwe considers the regional body its primary policy instrument.

The SADC Industrialization and Roadmap Strategy have all the footprints of Zimbabwe with its forward written by the late President Robert Mugabe as the SADC chair at the time.
Moreover, the SADC regional body is significant for Zimbabwe for achieving regional development and integration within Southern Africa.

The late Former President Robert Mugabe was among the founding fathers honored at the ongoing SADC summit in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

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