{"id":2848,"date":"2005-09-30T12:47:23","date_gmt":"2005-09-30T12:47:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sardc.net\/en\/?p=2848"},"modified":"2014-10-07T13:29:38","modified_gmt":"2014-10-07T13:29:38","slug":"new-sadc-es-says-all-stakeholders-can-contribute-to-regional-policies-and-strategies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sardc.net\/en\/southern-african-news-features\/new-sadc-es-says-all-stakeholders-can-contribute-to-regional-policies-and-strategies\/","title":{"rendered":"New SADC ES says all stakeholders can contribute to regional policies and strategies"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Pam Mhlanga and Bayano Valy in Maputo<\/b> – SANF 05 no 81<\/em><\/strong>
\nThe new Executive Secretary of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) has called on all stakeholders, including the private sector and civil society, to participate in the development of their regional community.<\/p>\n

Tomaz Augusto Salom\u00e3o, who was appointed by SADC leaders at their summit in August, urged the private sector and civil society to play a stronger role in regional development, and says he will improve \u201cthe quality of dialogue\u201d with Member States and other stakeholders.<\/p>\n

In an exclusive interview with the regional publication, SADC Today, Salom\u00e3o said one of the positive outcomes of the restructuring exercise was broadening participation in SADC affairs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough the SADC National Committees established in our Member States, stakeholders such as civil society and the private sector have an opportunity to contribute to the formulation of regional policies and strategies as well as their implementation at the national level. The mechanisms are therefore in place and the challenge is for the stakeholders to make use of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

SADC has achieved a lot over the past 25 years, he said, and membership has increased from 9 to 14 countries, but the region still faces daunting challenges, such as food insecurity, poverty, and HIV and AIDS.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs you know, we were faced by wars in Mozambique, in Angola, and the DRC, and we had the democratisation process in South Africa. But now we have relative peace, stability and security. And now it\u2019s time, I think, to address our integration and development priorities more effectively.<\/p>\n

\u201cIntegration is a long-term process. To build a regional integrated market takes many years. When you deal with economic development you don\u2019t do somersaults. It\u2019s impossible. What we need to do is to be clear about our priorities, policies and strategies.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have signed 24 protocols and ratified two-thirds of the protocols in different areas. We have established a strong relationship with strategic development partners at bilateral and multilateral levels. SADC is an important regional player both in the continental and international arenas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Salom\u00e3o, a former cabinet minister in Mozambique, took up his post on 1 September and has already begun visiting Members States for consultations, \u201cto listen to their concerns, what they think, and what are their expectations.\u201d<\/p>\n

SADC has a long-term development strategy in the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) but needs to streamline its activities to \u201cquicken the pace of implementation\u201d and build capacity to monitor the process, he said. Capacity-building is needed at the SADC Secretariat and at national level in SADC National Committees.<\/p>\n

Salom\u00e3o says it is important to revisit the question of meetings of Sectoral Committees of Ministers, which were phased out during the restructuring exercise. He said regular meetings of ministers in sectors such as finance and investment, trade and industry, agriculture, gender, transport, telecommunications, energy, water, health, and education, among others, are important to bring back \u201cthe whole issue related to ownership\u201d.<\/p>\n

While the engine for growth and development in the region is the private sector, the role of national governments is to \u201ccreative a conducive environment for both domestic and foreign investment,\u201d Salom\u00e3o said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will strive to improve the quality of dialogue with the private sector and other main stakeholders, such as civil society and the International Cooperating Partners.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn today\u2019s world, we\u2019re competing. We\u2019re competing regarding markets. We\u2019re competing regarding Foreign Direct Investment. We\u2019re competing regarding aid\u2026 We need to present our credentials so that we can say, \u2018look, this is the right region, the prospects are very good\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said while some people compare SADC to the European Union, this comparison is not valid. \u201cThis is a different community, a different region, a different history. You have to look at the context. It\u2019s clear that they are far ahead of us in terms of regional development.\u201d<\/p>\n

Salom\u00e3o also noted the importance of understanding \u201cthe big picture, the project for the African Economic Community. There is the Abuja Treaty on that. The African Union is our mother organisation, NEPAD is the development framework. The Regional Economic Communities (RECs) are the building blocks \u2013 SADC, COMESA and others.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will strive to improve the quality of dialogue with our sister RECs and the AU. We need, as a priority, to build capacity within SADC to understand what is going on, to decide what kind of strategic decisions need to be taken, and what kind of cooperation we need to have with others.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to improve the quality of dialogue with the Southern African Customs Union [SACU], which is an advanced part of SADC. It has been implementing a Customs Union for a number of years. How can we use SACU\u2019s existence and experience to benefit SADC, to fast track the SADC Customs Union Project?\u201d<\/p>\n

An economist by profession, Salom\u00e3o, 51, has made significant contributions to the development of his country and the region, serving Mozambique in senior government posts for the past 22 years. In that capacity, he is is well known and respected throughout the region.<\/p>\n

As Minister of Transport and Communications from 2000-2004, he led a successful programme of reform of the telecommunications sector in Mozambique aimed at the sector’s modernisation and competitiveness. He was Minister of Planning and Finance from 1994 to 1999, during the period of reconstruction in Mozambique following the peace accord. (SARDC)<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Pam Mhlanga and Bayano Valy in Maputo – SANF 05 no 81 The new Executive Secretary of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) has called on all stakeholders, including the private sector and civil society, to participate in the development of their regional community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1676,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2848","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-southern-african-news-features"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sardc.net\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sanf.gif?fit=147%2C144&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4h5b0-JW","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sardc.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sardc.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sardc.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sardc.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sardc.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2848"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sardc.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2848\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2857,"href":"https:\/\/www.sardc.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2848\/revisions\/2857"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sardc.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sardc.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sardc.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sardc.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}