Bill Watch 46/2019 SADC Summit in Dar es Salaam 17th to 18th August 22 August 2019 Roadmap towards the transformation of the SADC Parliamentary Forum into a SADC Parliament Kiswahili to be Official SADC Working Language The Summit approved Kiswahili as the Fourth SADC Official Working Language in addition to English, French and Portuguese. This was in recognition of the role and contribution of Mwalimu Julius Nyerere and Tanzania in the liberation struggle of Southern Africa. Summit’s Call for Lifting of Sanctions on Zimbabwe The Summit noted the adverse impact on the economy of Zimbabwe and the region at large, of prolonged economic sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe, expressed solidarity with Zimbabwe, and called for the immediate lifting of the sanctions to facilitate socio-economic recovery in the country. The Summit declared the 25th October as the date on which SADC Member States can collectively voice their disapproval of the sanctions through various activities and platforms until the sanctions are lifted. Intra SADC Trade The Summit noted with great concern the slow growth in the intra-SADC trade levels and that the region continues to export unprocessed raw material to the rest of the world, therefore, forfeiting the potential benefits of the resource endowments. To this effect, The Summit agreed to accelerate the implementation of the industrialisation strategy. Burundi’s Application to Join SADC The Summit noted that Burundi met some of the eligibility criteria for admission of new members into SADC, and that Burundi will submit a progress report, based on which a verification Mission will be undertaken. Solidarity with Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic/Western Sahara The Summit communique has several paragraphs expressing solidarity with the aspirations of the people of Western Sahara, including an instruction to the SADC Secretariat to notify the African Union Commission, and the Government of Japan on the SADC Position regarding the exclusion of Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic/Western Sahara participation in the forthcoming All African Games to be held in Morocco, and the imminent TICAD meeting to be held in Japan. Veritas makes every effort to ensure reliable information, but cannot take legal responsibility for information supplied. If you want to contact Veritas, have any questions or wish to subscribe or unsubscribe please email veritas@mango.zw If you are looking for legislation please look for it on www.veritaszim.net Follow us on (+263 71 893 3633) This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License .