This was said by SADC Executive Secretary, Kaire Mbuende, at the joint third SADC-EU joint ministerial meeting in Vienna, Austria on 3-4 November.

"We are concerned over the declining Overseas Development (ODA) which contrary to conventional wisdom is not being replaced by trade and investment.

"There is a role for ODA as an expression of international solidarity and as a mechanism for social justice among nations," he told the meeting which was attended by representatives of foreign ministries from the EU and SADC.

He said SADC countries were implementing sound economic policies which had in many instances resulted in declining budget deficits, low inflation rates and positive economic growth.

"Notwithstanding all these efforts, foreign direct investment particularly from Europe is slow in coming," he said.

A major EU-SADC Investment Promotion Programme, which aims at creating a mechanism to facilitate trade and investment between the two regions, is currently being worked out.

On foreign debt, Mbuende said there was need for in-depth dialogue on the issue adding that external debt servicing obligation had virtually been turned into a national priority as it was being attended to before everything else.

He explained how debt deprives countries of resources to invest in the social sectors of health and education. "There is a direct political and social dimension to external debt which has an adverse effect on the development potential of our countries and can lead to social upheavals and political instability of the region.

"Debt is a political issue. The debt burden of a number of southern African countries is partially a product of the struggles for national liberation and against apartheid," he said.