Issued by: Office of the President
NOES FOR A SPEECH BY PRESIDENT NELSON MANDELA, CHAIRMAN OF SADC, IN THE CONCLUDING SESSION OF THE SOUTHERN AFRICA INTERNATIONAL DIALOGUE. "NEW DIRECTIONS FOR SADC" Kasane, Botswana, 6 May 1997
Your Excellencies; Government Ministers, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen.
Introduction
1. May I take this opportunity to express, on behalf of myself personally and my colleagues, our heartfelt gratitude to the government and people of Botswana for their hospitality towards us. And may I thank you, President Masire, on behalf of the Southern African Development Community, for acting as host to this important Dialogue.
2. Please accept also my sincere regrets that I was unable to be with you before today. I know that you share the concerns which kept met from you. My enforced absence has meant thatave only had the briefest opportunity to benefit from the exchange of ideas which has been occurring.
SAID a significant and timely initiative from SADC's point of view
1. This Dialogue provides a valuable opportunity for those in Government to share ideas on the generation of wealth in Southern Africa with distinguished business leaders from our region and across the world.
2. It is timely because the current phase of SADC's development requires that relations amongst the private sectors of Southern African countries, and relations between government and private sector, should be strengthened it is vital too that the potential of our region should be given maximum exposure to the international business community.
SADC's evolution from a Co-ordination Conference to Community
1. The peoples of Southern Africa have long cherished the vision of exploiting the region's immense resources through co-operation for development. But it was only with the ending of apartheid and destabilisation that substantial progress could be made in that direction. In a few short years giant strides have been taken in building a powerful engine for development on the foundation laid by visionaries such as President Masire.
2. The formal transition of our regional organisation in 1992 from "Co-ordination Conference" to "Community" signalled that henceforth we would be acting jointly not only to develop and rehabilitate infrastructure, but to address comprehensively the challenges of reconstruction, development and growth in an increasingly challenging global environment.
3. In a period defined by growing interdependence of nations and the emergence of regional blocs in a global economy, no nation of Southern Africa can prosper in isolation from its neighbours. If we are to restructure our economies successfully as a basis for sustained growth; and make effective responses to changes on the world economy, then we need a regional framework for balanced development and a collective voice that can be heard in the economic forums of the world.
4. The new direction for SADC is clear - increasing economic integration that will bring the benefits of an enlarged market of some 130 million people; and a restructuring of productive sectors in pursuit of export-oriented production that adds value to our primary commodities.
Progress in establishing a regional framework for growth and development
1. Progress in these directions has been made possible by the political stability that our region now enjoys. The people of Southern Africa have seized the opportunity to declare their preference in the most practical way for democratic governance, the entrenchment of a culture of human rights, and the peaceful resolution of conflict.
2. Political stability has allowed the regional framework for development integration to grow apace, and co-operation to broaden. A joint approach to regional infrastructure has become a reality. The development corridors now being promoted offer many exciting investment opportunities, and can help change the economic face of the region.
3. Economic policies premised on the disciplined use of public resources and the creation of a climate for the flourishing of enterprise have, throughout the region, given the private sector a central position in the generation of growth and development.
4. Internal barriers to trade are being reduced in a phased eight-year process towards a free trade area. The Central Bank Governors are working towards harmonised information systems and technology to facilitate cross border payments and investments.
5. The enabling environment for investment includes liberalised foreign exchange markets, with free remittance of profits and dividends and no controls on current account transactions.
Economic indicators
1. All the signs are that the policies are bearing fruit and that the region can look forward to sustained growth. Rates of inflation are on the decline; economic growth in 1996 averaged above 6 per cent in real terms and the prospects for sustaining growth of this order are good.
2. Economic relations with the rest of Africa and with Asia, long stultified by colonialism and apartheid, are growing in leaps and bounds. With its strategic location. Southern Africa is bound to play a key role in the development of economic relations between Asia, Africa and Latin America.
3. In short, political stability; economic policies conducive to enterprise and regional integration; far-reaching programmes of reconstruction and development; and abundant natural resources, have turned Southern Africa into an ideal haven for investment. The region has poised itself for economic break-through.
Growing international interest
1. To realise the potential, substantial investment is required to take advantage of the opportunities.
2. An increasing demand for trade and investment conferences over the past two years is concrete evidence of growing international interest in our region. The challenge to would-be investors now, is to move beyond expressions of interest and to turn the feasibility studies into investment decisions.
3. Like those conferences this Southern African International Dialogue is helping to shift the emphases from discussion to practical implementation.
4. But it goes further, beyond deliberating on the opportunities that bring profit to business and the benefits of development to the people of the region in focusing on partnership as central to the generation of wealth in Southern Africa, the Dialogue places itself at the heart of our approach to economic growth and development.
Partnership for growth and development
1. Southern Africa's experience emphasises the importance of three aspects of partnership.
2. Firstly, within a changing global context, Southern Africa is defining its identity by a variety of co-operative relations, first and foremost with the rest of the African continent. We are building a special relationship with other regions of the world at a similar stage of development and with similar interests. In so doing we are also adding our voice to the call to ensure that the emerging world economic order works to the benefit of all, and not only of some, in a truly international partnership for development. And we are redefining our relations with the developed world, so that they are of mutual benefit.
3. Secondly, development will not be achieved if it is regarded as the responsibility only of government. It requires governments to join hands in partnership with their social partners: the private sector; labour, non-governmental organisations; and the rest of civil society.
4. Finally, the private sector has the potential to make a very great contribution to the regional development process, not simply as a source of investment funds, but also in infrastructure development, technological change and the development of our most precious asset, our human resources. This being so we should join in a partnership to make development integral to private sector activities, rather than some extra contribution which the sector might or might not choose to engage in.
Conclusion
1. We have no illusions about the immensity of the challenge we face as a region in redressing, through our own efforts, the situation in which history and circumstance have placed us. Our confidence grows out of the way in which the people and the countries of our region have seized the opportunity to join hands and work together.
2. SADC's development has reached a point at which the contribution of the private sector is becoming critical. To the extent that this Dialogue succeeds in building partnerships within the private sector across nations and regions; between governments; and between government and private sector it will promote the central objective for which SADC was given existence: the improvement in the quality of life through co-operation.
3. Let us all join hands in a partnership for prosperity and peace.