Online Reporter
Wallace Ruzvidzo in ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar
SADC and the United States are looking to recalibrate their partnership, grounding it on mutual trust, shared values and reciprocal benefit, Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister permanent secretary Ambassador Albert Chimbindi has said.
Yesterday, the two convened a historic inaugural dialogue meeting after more than two years of planning.
In an interview after the dialogue forum held here, Ambassador Chimbindi said the two parties were looking to increase collaboration in various areas.
“The idea is that this was an inaugural meeting for a dialogue forum between the USA and SADC,” he said.
“This meeting has been planned for over two years, and finally it has taken place. The idea is to find ways of deepening the cooperation and relationship between the US and SADC.”
The essence of the meeting, said Ambassador Chimbindi, was also for SADC to relay its priorities to the US, especially in light of global geopolitical shifts.
“We also wanted to know the new US government policy towards SADC because it’s a new administration, which we didn’t fully understand.
“We also took advantage as SADC to make sure that we were going to tell them about our own priorities as provided in the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan and in the SADC Vision 2050 so that they would also understand how they can assist and how we can work together going forward,” he said.
Deputy Assistant Secretary for African Affairs at the US Department of State, Ms Melanie Higgins, said the meeting was an opportunity for her country to participate and recognise collaboration at a regional level.
“We are convening at a time where we face collectively a number of major challenges and I know the Deputy Executive Secretary for Regional Integration talked about a few of them . . . food security, eradicating poverty, promoting economic growth, establishing reliable energy and providing health care to a population that needs it.
“Coupled with these challenges is a global challenge as well, such as access to long-term concessional financing, overseas development assistance and foreign direct investments which are sometimes more difficult to access,” she said.
SADC Deputy Executive Secretary for Regional Integration Ms Angele Makombo N’Tumba said the SADC-US dialogue forum presented an invaluable opportunity to recalibrate the partnership between the two, grounding it in mutual trust, shared values, and reciprocal benefit.
“As the SADC Secretariat, we are excited about this opportunity to engage the United States Government, our longstanding partner and supporter in our regional integration efforts.
“Today’s engagement offers a valuable opportunity for the US Government and the SADC region to engage in meaningful dialogue on key issues of shared interest, to strengthen and deepen cooperation towards regional integration, poverty eradication and sustainable development,” she said.
