The Executive Secretary of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), Her Excellency Dr Stregomena Lawrence Tax has said the SADC Region is a solid investment destination which offers a wide range of opportunities and success factors for investment and partnership.
In her Key Address to over 200 delagates comprising Business Partners and Representatives from the Chambers of Commerce; and Captains of the Industry at the SADC Investment Forum in Moscow, Russia on 23rd October , 2018, H.E. Dr Tax said the SADC region is endowed with abundance resources including minerals, oil, abundant, and raw materials for manufacturing and value addition that offer a range of opportunities for investment and partnership.
H.E. Dr Tax informed the delegates that the adoption of the SADC Industrialisation Strategy and its roadmap in April, 2015 by the SADC Heads of State and Government, opened up endless opportunities through the development of regional value chains and their integration into global value chains in clusters namely: Agro-processing, Mineral Beneficiation, Pharmaceuticals, Capital goods, Consumer goods and Services.
H.E. Dr Tax added that the recent signing of the Memorandum of Understanding on Pooled Procurement of Pharmaceutical Services (SPPS) between SADC and the Medical Stores Department of the United Republic of Tanzania provides business opportunities to pharmaceutical manufacturers from the Russian Federation. On this note, H.E. Dr Tax called on the Russian pharmaceutical manufacturers to seize this opportunity as SADC will be procuring pharmaceuticals and medical supplies in bulk through the SPPS approach.
The Executive Secretary urged the delegates to take advantage of a number of success factors for investment available in the SADC region. Some of the investment success factors, she said, include the SADC Free Trade Area, meant to liberalize intra-regional trade in goods and services; and the growing young population that will ensure the sustained supply of labour to support growth and development, and thus enable the prosperity of investments in the region.
On his part, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation who is the Special Presidential Envoy for the Middle East and Africa, Honourable Mr Mikhail Leonidovich Bogdanov said the SADC Investment Forum will not only enhance the relationship between SADC and Russian Federation but also help the Russian business community to fully understand specific areas of investment and business opportunities in the SADC region.
Honourable Bogdanov expressed optimism that the SADC Investment Forum marks the beginning of a more practical engagement between SADC and Russian business community. He then thanked SADC for organising the Investment Forum, adding that the forum comes at an opportune time when there is a growing interest by the Government and the business community in the Russian Federation to forge stronger partnership and collaboration with Africa.
Ambassador of the Republic of Namibia, and Chairperson of the SADC Ambassadors in the Russian Federation, H.E. Mr Ndali-ché Kamati said he was delighted with the interest from the Russian business community to take part in Investment Forum which was organised to share information on the investment opportunities and investment climate in the SADC region.
During the Forum, a number of discussions were held, focusing on regional value chains, healthcare, energy and infrastructure development and finance and logistics. In these discussions the SADC Secretariat was represented by the Director of Infrastructure, Ms. Mapolao Mokoena and the Senior Programme Officer for Industrialisation and Competiveness in the Directorate of Industrial Development and Trade, Dr Johansein Rutaihwa.
