SADC Heads of State Summit opens in Luanda

Angola, Luanda – The Extraordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) is opening Friday in Luanda, following the ministerial session held on Thursday to prepare the agenda. At the end of the ministerial session, the Angolan minister of Planning, Ana Dias Lourenço, who is also the chairperson of SADC Council of Ministers, said the heads of State meeting are discussing the political situation in the region, the process of regional integration and the organisation’s position on the new session of the African Union.  The agenda includes the discussion of a SADC infrastructure steering development plan  and information on the constitution of an organisation’s development fund.  The Luanda meeting is reviewing matters related to the process of regional integration and includes session of the Troika (Angola, Mozambique and Namibia),  of the SADC Council of.  Ministers and of  the Political, Defence and Security Cooperation Organ.  SADC groups Angola, South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mauritius, Malaw, Swaziland, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Madagascar and Mozambique.  Seychelles has been suspended from the regional organisation on account of a coup dEtat that disrupted Constitutional order there.