Mozambique will next week take over the presidency of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) at the organisation’s annual summit, which this year takes place in virtual format because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The 40th Ordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the meetings that precede it will take place from 10 to 17 August 2020 in a virtual format,” the organisation’s secretariat, which is based in Gaborone, Botswana, said in a statement.
According to the source, given the difficulties created by the Covid-19 pandemic, the summit will have a reduced agenda and will focus on the transition of the organization’s presidency from Tanzania to Mozambique, which will host the meeting.
The meetings will begin on Monday, 10 August, with the meeting of the Standing Committee of Senior SADC Officials and end on Friday, 14 August, with the summit of the ‘troika’ that manages the organisation.
The current SADC troika consists of John Magufuli, president of Tanzania, as current Acting President of SADC, his predecessor, Hage G. Geingob, president of Namibia, and Filipe Nyusi, president of Mozambique, as the new president of the regional community.
The summit will take place on Monday 17 August.
Mozambique last hosted a SADC summit in 2012 under the presidency of the former head of state Armando Guebuza.
The opening and closing ceremonies of the summit will be broadcast live by Televisão de Moçambique (TVM).
SADC is an organisation made up of 16 member states established in 1980 as the Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC) and later, in August 1992, transformed into the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
The organisation aims to promote the growth and socio-economic development of the region to assume a more competitive and effective role in international relations and the world economy.
South Africa, Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Essuatíni, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe are the member states of SADC.
