Senior officials from 13 South African countries started their nine-day summit meetings of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in Porp Louis on Monday to discuss a number of important regional political, economic and social issues.

Heads of state from Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe will come here for the summit meeting from Aug. 16 to 17.

Tanzania is the current chairperson of SADC and will now hand over the reins of leadership to Mauritius. The importance of the Troika system of rotational leadership must be emphasized, as a mechanism to ensure that leadership is shared.

Senior officials from SADC countries held a closed door meetingon the report of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) at the International Conference Center, Grand Baie, which is some 20 km from the City of Port Louis.

According to summit organizers, objectives of the Summit and related meetings include considering a report on developments around the operationalization of the Organ on Politics, Defense and Security.

The summit will review the regional political, economic and social developments with special reference to agriculture, food security, gender and HIV/AIDS.

It will consider the final report of the Review Committee on the Implementation of the Restructuring Exercise of SADC Institutions.

The summit will also be informed on the status of the ratification and implementation of SADC Protocols.

It will receive a report on gender equality, discuss progress in terms of the operationalization of the African Union including:the operationalization of the Protocol Relating to the establishment of the Peace and Security Council (PSC) of the AU; the Draft Protocol to the AU Convention on the Prevention and Combating of Terrorism; the launching and establishment of the Pan-African Parliament.

The summit will also consider Madagascar's application for membership to SADC.

Source: Xinhua