The SADC Ministerial Task Force on Regional Economic Integration met on 5 March 2015 in Harare, Zimbabwe, to deliberate on the Interim Report on the development of the SADC Industrialisation Strategy and Roadmap.

Comprising of the ministers responsible for Trade, Industry and Infrastructure in SADC Member States, the Task Force will submit, to the extraordinary meeting of the SADC Summit of Heads of State and Government scheduled to take place in April 2015.

The development of a SADC Industrialisation Strategy and Roadmap was mandated by the 34th Summit of SADC Heads of State and Government meeting of August 17 & 18, 2014 held in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe following its adoption of the Summit Theme: SADC Strategy for Economic Transformation: Leveraging the Region’s Diverse Resources for Sustainable Economic and Social Development through Beneficiation and Value Addition.

The Meeting of the Ministerial Task Force on Regional Economic Integration was officially opened by Hon. Pelekezela Mphoko, Vice President of the Republic of Zimbabwe. It was also addressed by Dr. Stergomena Lawrence Tax, SADC Executive Secretary, and was chaired Hon. Michael Bimha, Minister of Industry of the Republic of Zimbabwe.

---

Extracts from the Statement by the Guest of Honour at the opening of the Meeting

It gives me great pleasure on behalf of the Government of Zimbabwe and indeed on my own behalf, to address this August gathering of the Ministerial Taskforce on Regional Economic Integration meeting.

Whilst I am aware that the task before you is a daunting one, I am also equally convinced the resilience you have exhibited during the long road on negotiations is equally present to manage and resolve the challenges before you.

Turning to the agenda of this meeting, and as you might be aware, this meeting is arising from the Summit Decision which mandated this Ministerial Taskforce on Regional Economic Integration to urgently meet and agree on a Strategy and Roadmap to frontload Industrialization. This is in preparation for the Extraordinary Summit to be held in April 2015.

Our leaders in their great wisdom at the August 2014 Victoria Falls Summit noted the need to produce first in order to trade, hence the decision to frontload industrialization, particularly the sequencing of targeted outputs on Industrial Development and Trade Liberalisation in order to ensure that, at the current stage of integration in SADC, industrialization is accorded centre stage.

I could not agree more with this Summit decision, as we are all aware of the importance of an Industrialization Strategy in the region, and this cannot be over emphasized given the problems faced by SADC as a region.

I also believe that the decision emanated from the theme of the Summit which was aptly named, ‘SADC Strategy for Economic Transformation: Leveraging the Region’s Diverse Resources for Sustainable, Economic and Social Development through Beneficiation and Value Addition’.

It is a fact that the SADC region is abundantly endowed with natural resources, including many minerals and agricultural resources. However these resources remain ‘dead resources’ if they are not exploited and maximum value is derived from them through value addition and beneficiation.

The region remains poor largely due to the fact that these resources are exploited and exported mainly in primary form, with little or no local value addition undertaken. Dependence on primary products has exposed many resource-rich African countries to the vagaries of global markets, and associated with increased frequency cycles of commodity booms and busts.

The challenge facing SADC is to transform the economies of the region from resource dependent ones to dynamic, diversified industrial economies not only based on the ‘catch up’ technology but critically encompassing both public and private innovation through enhanced research and development.

The natural resource richness of the SADC region does, therefore, provide a foundation for its accelerated industrialization. The Summit theme is, therefore, intended to maximize revenue derivable from the exploitation of the region’s natural resources, enhance investment required for industrial development, and increase local processing and value addition of natural resources. Furthermore there is need to increase local inputs into production and integrate the region’s enterprises into relevant global value chains.

In conclusion let me re-emphasize that you need to respond to the Summit decisions in your deliberations so that you remain focused on frontloading industrialization and properly sequencing industrial development vis-à-vis market integration as mandated by the August 2014 Victoria Falls Summit.