Luanda - Member States of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have contributed only 47 million, out of the 129 that the organisation needed, to finance its operations for the financial year 2023/2024, the institution announced on Friday.
According to the spokesman for the 43rd Summit of SADC Heads of State and Government, Jorge Catarino Cardoso, this issue will be referred for debate to the Council of Ministers of the regional organisation, scheduled for the 13 and 14 August, in Luanda.
At the end of the meeting of the Committee of Senior Officials of SADC, Jorge Cardoso said that it was defined that Member States should finance their operations at 70% and international partners the remaining 30%.
He pointed out that it was also discussed to transmit to the Council of Ministers the assessment of the degree of implementation of the strategic indicative plan for regional development from 2022 to 2023.
Jorge Cardoso, also Director of Africa, Middle East and Regional Affairs at the Ministry of External Relations, said that the Committee of Senior Officials has proposed to the Council of Ministers the adoption of legal mechanisms for the transformation of the Parliamentary Forum SADC into Parliament.
He stressed that he was suggesting the necessary amendments to the SADC Treaty, since the current one does not provide for the existence of this body.
The official added that only eight countries have signed the project to transform the Parliamentary Forum into a Parliament, while at least 12 are needed for the proposal to create the regional parliament to succeed.
Jorge Cardoso hopes that at the SADC Heads of State and Government Summit on August 17, other countries will join the project of making Parliament an institutional reality.
He then added that it would be necessary to establish a protocol to regulate the functions and responsibilities of Parliament.
In his speech, the spokesperson said that the Committee of Senior Officials has decided to refer to the Council of Ministers the adoption of a strategy for the presentation of candidatures to fill the vacancies, in various positions, at the African Union and the UN.
He mentioned that SADC proposes to ensure the necessary consensus and the best politico-diplomatic strategies for its candidates to succeed against competitors from other regions.
Jorge Catarino Cardoso noted that during the four days of preparatory work, the SADC Standing Committees of Senior Officials and Finance worked on consolidating the documentation to be sent to the Council of Ministers.
At the 43rd Summit of SADC Heads of State and Government, scheduled for the 17th of this month, Angola is expected to take over the chair of the organisation, for one year, after having already done so in 2012.
The regional organisation includes Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. JFS/SC
