BY SIFISO NHLABATSI
MBABANE– Zimbabwe’s Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion, Honourable Professor Mthuli Ncube, has called on Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states to deepen regional cooperation, saying no country in the bloc can realise its full economic potential by working in isolation.
Ncube made the remarks while officially opening the SADC Committee of Ministers of Finance and Investment and Peer Review Panel meeting in Harare on Thursday. The high-level gathering brought together finance ministers, central bank officials and senior government representatives from across the 16-member regional bloc, including Eswatini, to deliberate on measures aimed at strengthening regional economic integration.
“Our economies are connected by geography, history, infrastructure, trade corridors, financial flows and a shared development aspiration,” Ncube said.
He stressed that greater cooperation among member states would benefit the entire region, adding: “When one Member State becomes more stable, more productive and more connected, the SADC Region, as a whole, becomes stronger.”
The meeting focused on enhancing cooperation in investment, financial and capital market integration, as well as strengthening macroeconomic surveillance mechanisms to support sustainable economic development and inclusive growth across the region. It also reviewed progress on macroeconomic convergence among member states in line with the SADC Protocol on Finance and Investment.
According to the SADC Secretariat, the protocol provides the legal framework for harmonising financial, investment and macroeconomic policies among member states to promote regional stability and prevent policy decisions in one country from negatively affecting others.
The ministers’ meeting was preceded by sessions involving senior treasury and central bank officials held from June 29 to 30. These technical meetings were intended to provide recommendations and policy advice to guide ministerial deliberations.
Eswatini, one of SADC’s 16 member states, participates in the regional body’s economic integration agenda, which seeks to promote trade, investment, industrialisation and economic cooperation among countries in Southern Africa.
Established in 1980, SADC’s mission is to foster sustainable and equitable economic growth, reduce poverty and improve the quality of life of the people of the region through deeper regional integration, good governance and peaceful cooperation. The organisation believes closer collaboration among member states is essential for building resilient economies capable of competing in the global marketplace.
(Courtesy Pic)
