President HAKAINDE HICHILEMA is in the Democratic Republic of Congo to attend the 42nd ordinary Summit of SADC Heads of State and Government.
The SADC Summit, which is being hosted in the DRC capital Kinshasa, will be officially opened by host President FELIX TSHISEKEDI at the Parliament building.
Foreign Affairs Minister STANLEY KAKUBO in statement availed to ZNBC news has disclosed that President HICHILEMA is scheduled to present his maiden speech at the summit .
Others expected to speak at the summit include African Union Commission Chairperson MOUSSA FAKI MAHAMAT, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa Dr. VERA SONGWE and President of the African Development Bank Dr. AKINWUMI ADESINA.
President TSHISEKEDI will this evening host a State banquet in honor of the visiting Heads of State and government.
This year’s summit is being held under the theme “promoting industrialization through agro-processing, mineral beneficiation and regional value chains for inclusive and resilient economic growth”.
The theme for the 2022 summit is an endeavor to strengthen the implementation of the SADC regional indicative strategic development plan for 2020-2030 which seeks to further deepen Southern Africa’s regional integration.
During the summit, DRC President FELIX TSHSEKEDI will take over the chairpersonship of SADC from President of Malawi, Dr. LAZARUS CHAKWERA who assumed the chairpersonship on 17th August 2021 during the 41st SADC summit held in Lilongwe Malawi.
The agenda of the summit by the heads of state will among other issues include conducting an overview of the social economic situation in the SADC region, performance of the economy and review the regional Food and Nutrition security outlook for 2022- 2023
The Heads of State will also discuss matters of Disaster risk management and regional measures, gender and development, health status in the region, the theme of the Summit Heads of State and Government as well as review the status of implementation of the
ADC industrialization strategy and roadmap.
Other issues high on the agenda of discussion will be to look at how SADC can develop viable strategies that ensure the region fully benefits from its vast natural resources through taking full advantage of the African continental free trade area by breaki
g down trade barriers
