On Monday, Mozambique hosted a Virtual summit that brought together 16 leaders of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
It was the 40th edition of the gathering but conducted under anti Covid-19 measures under the theme; ‘40 years of building peace and security, and Promoting Development and Resilience in the Face of Global Challenges’.
The Ordinary SADC Summit usually meets once a year around August or September in a Member State of the incoming SADC Chairperson.
According to summit details, Mozambiquan President Filipe Jacinto Nyusi has assumed the SADC Chairpersonship from President John Magufuli of Tanzania.
President Nyusi pledged to take forward the regional development and integration agenda during his one-year tenure. Mozambique last held the chair in 2011.
The new SADC chairperson said he was proud of the progress it has made since its founding 40 years ago, particularly that the achievements have been made in the context of immense challenges, such as climate change, the economic and financial crisis, transnational organized crime, extremism and terrorism as well as diseases such as Malaria, Cholera, HIV and AIDS and Ebola, among others.
President Magufuli highlighted that, with the cooperation of the SADC Member States and the SADC Secretariat, a number of milestones were achieved during his tenure as SADC Chairperson, notwithstanding the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
SADC members welcomed President Dr Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera, who was elected as President of Malawi in June, 2020 and the Right Hon Dr. Moeketsi Majoro who was appointed as Prime Minister of the Government of the Kingdom of Lesotho in May 2020.
