The Council of Ministers of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) is meeting in Luanda on the 10th and 11th of this month to analyze the progress made in implementing regional programs.

According to a press release sent to ANGOP, the meeting, which will be led by the head of Angolan diplomacy, Tete António, as the current President-in-Office of the organization's Council of Ministers, will approve the Annual Institutional Plan and the Secretariat's budget for the 2024/2025 financial year.

During the two days of work, the ministers will also review and discuss both the degree of compliance with the Council's decisions and the progress made in materializing the motto of the 43rd SADC Summit of Heads of State and Government, as well as the Indicative Strategic Regional Development Plan for 2020-2030 and the SADC Humanitarian and Emergency Operations Centre (SHOC), and the disasters that have occurred in the region.

The 43rd Summit of the regional organization's political leaders was held last August in the Angolan capital, Luanda, under the slogan "Human and Financial Capital: The main factors for the sustainable industrialization of the SADC region".

The Council of Ministers oversees the functioning and development of SADC and ensures the concomitant implementation of policies and decisions. As a rule, it is made up of those responsible for Foreign Affairs, Foreign and International Relations, Economic Planning, Finance or Trade, from the sixteen (16) Member States and meets twice a year, namely in March and August.

Preparations for the Luanda meeting were finalized this Thursday in Gaborone, the capital of Botswana and headquarters of SADC, during the 13th ordinary session of the Committee of Ambassadors and High Commissioners (CEAC), convened by the Secretariat of the community organization.

During the meeting, the CEAC was briefed on the main items on the agenda of the Council of Ministers meeting, with emphasis on the mobilization of resources for the SADC Missions in Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Angola was represented at the meeting in Gaborone by the ambassador to Botswana and the SADC, Beatriz Morais.

SADC's mission is to promote sustainable and equitable economic growth and socio-economic development through efficient production systems, deeper cooperation and integration, good governance and lasting peace and security, so that the region emerges as a competitive and effective player in the contexts of international relations and the world economy. (RM-Angop)