by Pam Mhlanga and Bayano Valy in Maputo – SANF 05 no 81
The new Executive Secretary of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) has called on all stakeholders, including the private sector and civil society, to participate in the development of their regional community.
Tomaz Augusto Salomão, who was appointed by SADC leaders at their summit in August, urged the private sector and civil society to play a stronger role in regional development, and says he will improve “the quality of dialogue” with Member States and other stakeholders.
In an exclusive interview with the regional publication, SADC Today, Salomão said one of the positive outcomes of the restructuring exercise was broadening participation in SADC affairs.
“Through the SADC National Committees established in our Member States, stakeholders such as civil society and the private sector have an opportunity to contribute to the formulation of regional policies and strategies as well as their implementation at the national level. The mechanisms are therefore in place and the challenge is for the stakeholders to make use of them.”
SADC has achieved a lot over the past 25 years, he said, and membership has increased from 9 to 14 countries, but the region still faces daunting challenges, such as food insecurity, poverty, and HIV and AIDS.
“As you know, we were faced by wars in Mozambique, in Angola, and the DRC, and we had the democratisation process in South Africa. But now we have relative peace, stability and security. And now it’s time, I think, to address our integration and development priorities more effectively.
“Integration is a long-term process. To build a regional integrated market takes many years. When you deal with economic development you don’t do somersaults. It’s impossible. What we need to do is to be clear about our priorities, policies and strategies.
“We have signed 24 protocols and ratified two-thirds of the protocols in different areas. We have established a strong relationship with strategic development partners at bilateral and multilateral levels. SADC is an important regional player both in the continental and international arenas.”
Salomão, a former cabinet minister in Mozambique, took up his post on 1 September and has already begun visiting Members States for consultations, “to listen to their concerns, what they think, and what are their expectations.”
SADC has a long-term development strategy in the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) but needs to streamline its activities to “quicken the pace of implementation” and build capacity to monitor the process, he said. Capacity-building is needed at the SADC Secretariat and at national level in SADC National Committees.
Salomão says it is important to revisit the question of meetings of Sectoral Committees of Ministers, which were phased out during the restructuring exercise. He said regular meetings of ministers in sectors such as finance and investment, trade and industry, agriculture, gender, transport, telecommunications, energy, water, health, and education, among others, are important to bring back “the whole issue related to ownership”.
While the engine for growth and development in the region is the private sector, the role of national governments is to “creative a conducive environment for both domestic and foreign investment,” Salomão said.
“We will strive to improve the quality of dialogue with the private sector and other main stakeholders, such as civil society and the International Cooperating Partners.
“In today’s world, we’re competing. We’re competing regarding markets. We’re competing regarding Foreign Direct Investment. We’re competing regarding aid… We need to present our credentials so that we can say, ‘look, this is the right region, the prospects are very good’.”
He said while some people compare SADC to the European Union, this comparison is not valid. “This is a different community, a different region, a different history. You have to look at the context. It’s clear that they are far ahead of us in terms of regional development.”
Salomão also noted the importance of understanding “the big picture, the project for the African Economic Community. There is the Abuja Treaty on that. The African Union is our mother organisation, NEPAD is the development framework. The Regional Economic Communities (RECs) are the building blocks – SADC, COMESA and others.
“We will strive to improve the quality of dialogue with our sister RECs and the AU. We need, as a priority, to build capacity within SADC to understand what is going on, to decide what kind of strategic decisions need to be taken, and what kind of cooperation we need to have with others.
“We need to improve the quality of dialogue with the Southern African Customs Union [SACU], which is an advanced part of SADC. It has been implementing a Customs Union for a number of years. How can we use SACU’s existence and experience to benefit SADC, to fast track the SADC Customs Union Project?”
An economist by profession, Salomão, 51, has made significant contributions to the development of his country and the region, serving Mozambique in senior government posts for the past 22 years. In that capacity, he is is well known and respected throughout the region.
As Minister of Transport and Communications from 2000-2004, he led a successful programme of reform of the telecommunications sector in Mozambique aimed at the sector’s modernisation and competitiveness. He was Minister of Planning and Finance from 1994 to 1999, during the period of reconstruction in Mozambique following the peace accord. (SARDC)
