At present, ongoing Southern African Development Community (SADC) initiatives are underway to construct a comprehensive Industrial Policy Framework for the region. The purpose of this paper is to highlight certain pertinent issues that ought to be brought into focus in the design and construction of this policy, and introduces a timeous reflection of the challenges and potential for more regionally integrated industrialisation strategies.

The paper begins by summarising some of the more recent approaches to the issue highlighted by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development Report (2011). This report emphasises the dramatically changed world environment of the 21st century which, in turn, has induced a shift in thinking on how to implement viable and sustainable industrialisation strategies and policies.

Secondly, the paper reflects on some of the newer theoretical approaches to regional industrialisation in light of these changes and their appropriateness to the issue in question. The paper concludes with a vision for a more integrated approach and a suggested institutional role that SADC and its relevant organs can play in this transformation strategy.

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