The 43rd ordinary summit of political leaders of the regional organization takes place under the theme “Human and Financial Capital: Key Factors for Sustainable Industrialization in the SADC Region”.
President João Lourenço, who succeeds in the political leadership of the bloc to his counterpart from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRCongo), Félix Tchisekedi, gives a speech at the opening of the works, which will address political, socioeconomic, peace and security issues, training of youth and women.
SADC's political leadership by Angola should be marked by two points of tension, namely the conflict in the east of neighboring DRCongo and acts of terrorism in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique, where SADC has a force (SAMIM - Missão Militar da África Austral) to combat Islamic fundamentalism.
Speaking to Lusa, Angolan analyst Osvaldo Mboco considered that the heads of state and government will discuss trade support infrastructures at the summit, namely regional roads, which do not exist in SADC, and cross-border railways.
For Osvaldo Mboco, when a country assumes the presidency of an organization it also ends up defining its agenda and “Angola, along with the interests of the organization, can also put on the agenda of discussions the infrastructures to support trade, namely the way of transport. iron, bearing in mind the investment it made in the Lobito corridor, which has a cross-border character”.
With about 350 million inhabitants, that is, a quarter of the African population, estimated at 1.4 billion inhabitants, human capital is decisive for the challenges of regional organization.
According to Osvaldo Mboco, the challenges of this African human capital are great, since “most young people do not have professional preparation and in some cases are illiterate”.
“And this illiteracy is not just about knowing how to read, write and count, we are also talking about access and knowledge of new technologies, the digital age, and it is fundamental to look at another prism from the point of view of the motto, which is the financial capital, which is crucial for carrying out operations of various structural programs and projects”, he stressed.
SADC is an economic bloc formed by Portuguese-speaking Angola and Mozambique, in addition to South Africa, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Comoros, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Swaziland, Seychelles, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
