As preparations for the 44th Southern African Development Community summit to be hosted by Zimbabwe gain momentum, President Mnangagwa expressed confidence that the meeting will be a resounding success, saying the country has the capacity to handle the task.
This came in response to questions from journalists here on Monday after he officially opened the 56th Conference of Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development of the Economic Commission for Africa, which concluded its work yesterday.
He explained that all 16 SADC member states would like to host the summit at some point, and Zimbabwe is no exception.
“I don’t think there is any country among the 16 (SADC member states) that should be looked down upon that does not host SADC, and we are one of the 16,” President Mnangagwa said.
“And we will host it. I believe it will be a record of excellence and we are hosting it because of our people like you (the media person), I believe in you.
“I think you will provide great coverage of the SADC summit when we host it here, and I think we have the capacity to host SADC here.”
President Mnangagwa will chair the regional body at the summit. This position is currently held by Angolan President Joao Lourenco.
Zimbabwe was elected vice president last August after a meeting of heads of state and government in Luanda, Angola.
The state will then hold this position for a year.
A preparatory team from the Southern African Development Community, led by the Regional Cluster’s Deputy Executive Secretary for Corporate Affairs, Dr Judith Katera, has already visited Zimbabwe to assess Harare’s readiness to host the summit.
The team visited the new parliament building, which will host the event, and then inspected some of the hotels that will receive delegations. They also toured the African Liberation Museum, which will be visited by heads of state and government.
He expressed his satisfaction with the preparations that have been made so far.
Zimbabwe has hosted a number of events such as the International Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases in Africa (ICASA 2023) in December last year.
ICASA attracted more than 10,000 delegates from 150 countries, including 200 journalists.
The country also hosted the 56th Conference of Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development of the Economic Commission for Africa, which concluded yesterday.
Regarding Zimbabwe assuming the position of Chairman of the Council of Finance Ministers of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa for a year, President Mnangagwa said: “It is a great honor that the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa feels it is appropriate for Zimbabwe to assume the Chairmanship of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.
“We feel that we have been honored and I have no doubt that we will do our best to carry out the burden of chairing the Economic Commission for Africa,” he added.
The UN Economic Commission for Africa conference attracted 32 high-level representatives and more than 200 delegates from around the world Africa.
In an interview yesterday, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa, Claver Gatete, said that this year’s conference was exceptional in the sense that ministers were more interested in finding solutions rather than just being a talk show. Announce
