Prime Minister of Mauritius Paul Berenger took over the helm of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) from Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa on Monday.

Berenger, 59, became prime minister and minister of defense andhome affairs of the Indian Ocean island country in September 2003.

The SADC kicked off its annual summit here on Monday to discussa report on developments around the operationalization of the Organ on Politics, Defense and Security Cooperation.

The summit is also set for accelerating the process of regionalintegration in a bid to speed up development and improve its ability to deal with the crisis in the southern African region.

The leaders will also consider the application for SADC membership from Madagascar at the summit.

Before the summit, there was a meeting of the Council of Ministers on Aug. 12-14.

The SADC used to have 14 members, but Seychelles withdrew itself on July 1 due to failure in membership payment.

Source: Xinhua