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Protocol on Industry
The SADC Protocol on Industry, which aims to improve the policy environment for in-
dustrial development and support implementation, was approved in August 2019. The
Protocol is a stand-alone and binding legal instrument that entrenches and gives legal
effect to the SADC Industrialisation Strategy and Roadmap and its related Costed Ac-
tion Plan and will ensure adequate coordination, monitoring and evaluation of imple-
mentation.
Partnering the Private Sector to Advance Industrialisation
To ensure the success of the industrialisation strategy, the Secretariat has continued
strengthening the central role of various stakeholders including but not limited to Member
States, financiers, technical partners, think tanks and academia by facilitating the estab-
lishment of the regional private-sector association.
A SADC Industrialisation Week has been convened annually since 2016, bringing
together public and private sector representatives to discuss ways to accelerate regional in-
tegration, enhance intra-African trade and increase levels of investment. The objective of
the Industrialisation Week is to popularise the strategy and identify industrialisation projects
that can be implemented jointly by the public and private sector within SADC Member
States.
The Private Sector Engagement Mechanism, which will provide the basis for pub-
lic-private dialogue and development of a Regional Public-Private-Sector Engagement
Strategy. This important achievement will go a long way toward increasing private sector
investment in the region while establishing an important platform for the private sector 101
and SADC to enter into Public Private Partnerships (PPPs).
Increase in Share of Manufacturing
Significant progress has been realised in terms of the share of manufacturing to total GDP.
For example, the manufacturing sector share of GDP in the region increased from an aver-
age of 10.3 percent in 2013 to 11.9 percent in 2018, with most Member States recording
growth of above five percent. However, there is still need for more work to be done with
respect to ensuring that economies of Member States are diversified. The structure of the
economies of SADC Member States remain undiversified with a growing resource-based
sector such as agriculture and mining, which accounts for an average of over 25 percent
of GDP. This shows that there is vast untapped manufacturing ca-
pacity if there is intensified commitment towards value-addition and
beneficiation in the region.
Harnessing Regional Value Chains
As part of the industrialisation agenda, SADC has begun the process
of identifying potential value chains in the region, which have a spe-
cific focus on how individual and regional strengths can be leveraged
for optimal benefits from both regional and global value chains.
To encourage the creation of regional value chains and par-
ticipation in global processes, SADC has identified six priority
areas where the value chains can be established and for which re-
gional strategies should be developed by the end of 2020. These
are in the areas of Agro-processing, Minerals beneficiation, Phar-
maceuticals, Consumer goods, Capital goods, and Services. An
agro-processing profiling study conducted by the SADC Secre-
tariat has so far identified 14 value chains with great potential for
upgrading. This is expected to enable SADC Member States to
specialise in those productive processes and activities where they
have competitive advantages.