"In the past few days of our meeting we have made important decisions that impact on the lives of our people," Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa told some 1 500 delegates to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) meeting.
He said the countries' chief concerns were the Aids pandemic and the alleviation of poverty, noting: "About 60-million of our people, or 30% of our population, live below the internationally recognised poverty line".
Mkapa said the leaders had approved an HIV/Aids framework and programme of action for 2003 to 2007.
"It offers us a measurable target against which our efforts, actions and successes - or lack thereof - will be measured," he said, without elaborating on the target.
"It has provided us with a challenge we cannot fail to meet in the interests of our people who are being daily decimated by the deadly pandemic," Mkapa said.
He said SADC was still a very small market and would have to grow by more than 6,2% annually to reduce poverty.
"Our region needs investment levels of 38 percent of GDP (gross domestic product), which the United Nations estimates as necessary to reduce poverty by 50% by the end of the century".
Mkapa called on rich nations to stop subsidising their farmers at the expense of poorer countries.
"Rich nations spend $350-billion a year on subsidizing their farmers, and harming the welfare of poor African peasants, while devoting only $50-billion a year to official development assistance.
"A cow in the European Union gets $2,5 subsidy a day, while millions of Africans survive on less that one dollar a day," he said.
All the leaders of the 14-member SADC attended the closing, except Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and his counterpart from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Joseph Kabila, who had both left earlier.
Mugabe was given a hero's welcome at the summit on Monday morning, with delegates cheering and ululating through two standing ovations.
The US and the European Union have imposed sanctions against Mugabe and his inner circle following his government's often violent land redistribution programme and his re-election in 2002 polls widely condemned as fraudulent.
SADC countries such as South Africa have been criticised for their policy of "quiet diplomacy" towards Mugabe, a hero of Zimbabwe's 1970s' liberation war and a pan-Africanist.
A final communique from the SADC secretariat reaffirmed the organisation's "solidarity" with Zimbabwe.
"The summit committed itself to continue opposing Commonwealth, European Union and US sanctions as they hurt not only ordinary Zimbabweans, but also have profound social and economic implications on the region as a whole," the statement said.
"The summit urged the EU, US and Commonwealth to lift sanctions and engage in constructive dialogue with Zimbabwe".
The statement said the food security situation in the region was forecast to improve from 15,2-million people needing donated food in March 2003 to seven million by January 2004.
"The food shortages are mainly a result of two consecutive years of droughts and floods," it said.
The leaders also finalised a mutual defence pact, which aims to create a regional force to quell conflict in SADC countries.
Its members are Angola, Botswana, the DRC, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, the Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. – Sapa-AFP.
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