Your Excellencies, Heads of State and Government,
Executive Secretary of SADC, Mr Elias Magosi,
Honourable Ministers, 
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good afternoon,

This has been a productive meeting where we have been able to engage substantively on matters that are important to the effective functioning of our Community.

We have had the opportunity to consider the reports and recommendations emanating from the meeting of the Council of Ministers. 

We thank the Chairperson of the SADC Council of Ministers, Minister Lamola, and his counterparts for the preparatory work.

We also wish to thank Mr Elias Magosi, the Executive Secretary of SADC, and the SADC Secretariat for the preparatory work ahead of today’s Summit.

I congratulate the newly appointed Deputy Executive Secretary for Regional Integration. 

This role within the Secretariat is vital as we proceed with greater determination and purpose to build a Southern African economy that draws together the comparative strengths of all Member States.

We wish you well for your tenure. 

We look to the Secretariat to strengthen coordination, accelerate implementation of the regional integration programmes and report regularly on progress and obstacles requiring our attention.

We congratulate the Incoming Chairperson of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation.

We reaffirm our support for the Organ as it undertakes the important task of safeguarding the peacefulness and the stability of our region.

Protecting lives, preventing displacement and sustaining peace must remain central to our collective efforts.

Member States must support this work through timely national action, effective coordination and the provision of resources necessary to implement our shared commitments. 

As we advance the priorities agreed at the 46th Ordinary Summit, our efforts must deliver tangible improvements in the lives of our people: greater security, stronger regional production, employment opportunities and shared prosperity.

I remind the Secretariat of the responsibility entrusted to it by Summit to draft criteria and guidelines for the appointment of the Incoming Chairperson of the Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation, and to submit a report to the Ministerial Committee of the Organ at its meeting in July 2027. 

Let us carry forward the unity demonstrated today with renewed resolve to deliver on these aspirations.

I declare this Extraordinary Summit of SADC Heads of State and Government officially closed.

I thank you.