Luanda - The Parliamentary Forum of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) will become a regional parliament, the Angolan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Téte António said Wednesday.
The decision was taken at the 41st Ordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government of the organisation, which was held over two days in Lilongwe, capital of the Republic of Malawi.
The transformation of the SADC Parliamentary Forum into a regional parliament stems from recommendations coming out of meetings of the SADC Council of Ministers, particularly of the 2018 held in Windhoek, Namibia.
Speaking to Angolan National Radio from Lilongwe today, Téte António, who headed the Angolan delegation to the summit, said the meeting also approved instruments in the areas of Defence and Security, including the creation of the Regional Centre for Combating Terrorism, which will be based in Tanzania.
The Summit also approved an agreement that amends the SADC Protocol on Energy, as well as on the control of firearms, ammunition and related materials, in addition to having decided favourably, on the status of the Standby Force of the organization.
The 41st Summit of Heads of State and Government of the SADC Community, held under the theme "Strengthening production capacity in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, in favour of inclusive and sustainable economic and industrial transformation", took place in a face-to-face and virtual format, due to the limitations imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
During the meeting, the Mozambican Head of State, Filipe Nyusi, handed over the rotating presidency of the organisation to his Malawian counterpart, Lazarus Chakwera.
The 41st Summit of Heads of State and Government of SADC took place at a time when the organisation deployed, for the first time in its history, a military mission to combat armed groups operating in the province of Cabo Delgado, northern Mozambique.
SADC comprises South Africa, Angola, Botswana, Comoros Islands, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, Eswatíni, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
