Speaking at a state banquet at the end of the first day of a SADC summit, at which Guebuza took over the rotating chairmanship of the organization, he stressed the importance of SADC members committing themselves to implementing the protocols promoting intra-SADC change and the free circulation of people and goods within the region.
These factors, he said, will create conditions for economies of scale, increased productivity and the best use of natural and capital resources.
Guebuza added that SADC has been gradually acting, not just as an economic block, but as cohesive political unit, with its own structures and mechanisms to design and manage development.
“Thanks to this collective commitment, we have made a great deal of progress”, he said. “As a result, we have been requested to share our experiences with other geopolitical blocks, and the international community has given us important roles, particularly in questions of peace and security”.
He claimed that SADC institutions, and even the borders separating SADC members, have been gradually transformed “into spaces for interaction between citizens, for the formation of partnerships, and for strengthening mutual knowledge”.
“Thanks to this process of regional integration, we are succeeding in creating a much larger market than each of our countries can create individually for their products and services”, Guebuza said. “We have taken substantial steps towards facilitating the free circulation of merchandise, through the gradual elimination of tariff and non-tariff barriers, which culminated in the launch of the SADC Free Trade Area in 2008”.
But challenges remain, he stressed, including strengthening and improving the mechanisms for preventing and managing conflicts.
“Our attitude towards challenges”, he said, “should be joint and concerted action, at all levels, with the participation of all segments of our society”. In this way, challenges could be turned “into opportunities contributing to drive forward regional integration”.
Absent from the banquet was South African President Jacob Zuma, who left Maputo immediately after the opening session of the summit, to deal personally with the aftermath of Thursday’s clashes between the South African police and striking miners at a platinum mine near Pretoria.
34 miners were killed when the police opened fire with live ammunition, and at least 78 others were injured. The miners’ union, the Association of Mine and Construction Workers (AMCU), has accused the police of committing a massacre.
Post published in: Africa News