The chairmanship of the AU, which rotates annually, will now be taken over by a Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) member state.SADC meets for the 29th ordinary session of the summit which officially opened on Monday in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The 15 heads of state and governments that will attend the SADC summit will discuss who takes over the chairmanship between Malawis President Bingu wa Mutharika and Lesothos ruler.
The Kinshasa summit will discuss among others the prospects of regional integration of SADC countries, the economic crisis and the security situation in the region with a special focus on Madagascar.
The SADC Leaders are also expected to exchange views on the issues of finances, investment and infrastructure development.
The SADC conference has been preceded by the Council of Ministers meeting which started on September 5 and ended on Sept 6, which discussed several issues including annual subscriptions for member countries and the political situations in the region.
Malawi Foreign Affairs Minister, Eta Banda, was among other foreign ministers who attended the closed door meeting which also received and adopted a report from experts to be presented to the SADC heads of state and governments during the meeting.
The heads of state and government are also expected to receive reports from former presidents of Mozambique and Botswana, Joachim Chisano and Ketumire Masire on political situations in Madagascar and Lesotho respectively.
During the meeting, the foreign affairs ministers discussed a number of issues ranging from the effects of the global economic crunch through investments to matters of infrastructure and health.
Post published in: Uncategorized