João Lourenço, who was speaking about accepting the one-year rotating presidency of SADC, pledged to work on the diversification of funding sources for projects and programs at Member State and regional level, with a view to reducing "the level of dependence on the always helpful and remarkable solidarity of our international cooperation partners".
"We will pay particular attention to the need to operationalize the Regional Development Fund and other mechanisms for attracting existing investments", said Lourenço.
The President appealed to Member States "to speed up the approval and rectification of the agreement on the operationalization of the SADC Regional Development Fund, a primordial tool for raising essential financial resources", in the pursuit of the "regional industrialization program and consequently to the fulfillment of the SADC regional integration agenda".
During his mandate, João Lourenço stressed that, in addition to the commitment to human capital, for the industrialization of Member States and the region to take place, a serious commitment to electrification, a considerable increase in energy production and sharing through the interconnection of their systems is needed of transmission networks.
"But we also need to expand and interconnect our road and rail networks, to ensure greater maritime and air connections between our countries so that there is a greater flow of trade and movement of people and goods, for there to be real regional integration", he stressed.
The head of state stressed that the Portuguese-speaking country "is making a great effort in the recovery and construction of infrastructures, such as the Lobito corridor, which will facilitate the interconnection and movement of people and goods between the Atlantic and Indian oceans", and placing export products on international markets under more advantageous conditions.
"We are also investing seriously in increasing production of energy from non-polluting sources and in transmission networks. In the field of telecommunications, Angola has invested in a fiber optic cable that already connects us to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia with the prospect of expansion to the SADC region and East African states", he said, also highlighting investments in the construction of a satellite and oil refineries.
According to João Lourenço, during his presidency "a strong commitment will be made to human capital", with the main challenge being the training and technical-professional training of young people, with a view to obtaining skills that facilitate access to employment, to ensure that they are prepared to face the challenges of the fourth industrial revolution and the digitalization of the region's economies.
Among the challenges, João Lourenço highlighted the issue of security in the region, such as the situation in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRCongo), where he has "developed joint efforts between the CIRGL [International Conference on the Great Lakes Region], the CEAAC [Economic Community of Central African States], SADC and the African Union, for the resolution of the intricate conflict in this region of the sister country".
"At SADC level, we applaud the decision in which the deployment of a regional force within the framework of the SADC State of Standby Force was approved, as a regional response to efforts aimed at restoring peace and security in the territory of the Democratic Republic Congo", he underlined.
Regarding the situation in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique, João Lourenço welcomed the progress achieved, despite the challenge of combating terrorism and violent extremism in that Mozambican province still prevailing, welcoming the decision to maintain the SADC mission in the country for another 12 months lusophone.
During Angola's term of office, the SADC region will register elections in the DRC, in the kingdom of Eswatini, in Madagascar and in Zimbabwe, electoral processes that the regional organization will monitor to ensure "the holding of peaceful, free and fair elections, in harmony with the principles and guidelines that govern the holding of elections in the region", noted João Lourenço.
"The region must remain united in the firm will to guarantee an environment of peace, security and stability as fundamental factors to provide important levels of economic and social development in the community and to deepen the process of regional integration", he highlighted.
