South Africa to host extraordinary SADC summit

South Africa said on Wednesday that it will host the extraordinary Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit on regional integration in Midrand, north of Johannesburg, on Oct. 23.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that South African President Thabo Mbeki will lead a senior South African government delegation to the summit.

The theme of the summit is "Economic Integration of SADC" and it is expected that all SADC heads of state and government will attend.

The extraordinary summit occurs within the context of the appointment of a Task Force of Ministers responsible for finance, investment and economic development; trade and industry and the SADC Secretariat.

The summit will focus on the current status of implementation of the Free Trade Area (FTA) in terms of the main activities required to complete the FTA by 2008 as planned for in the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan.

In addition, the requirements for achieving a SADC Customs Union will also be considered as well as macro-economic convergence in the region.

The SADC, a major regional bloc in Africa, currently has 14 member states, namely, Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Source: Xinhua