by Hon. Christophe Mboso N’kodia Pwanga

I would like to first express my deep appreciation and the great pleasure I had while Chairing and participating in my inaugural Plenary Assembly as the President of the Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum (SADC PF).

On behalf of myself and the people of my country, the Democratic Republic of Congo, I wish to express our gratitude at being granted this opportunity to preside over this august Forum and institution that is key to the fabric of the body politic of the SADC region.

On behalf of the SADC PF, I wish to thank our Guest of Honour the President of Botswana, His Excellency President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi, for graciously honouring us with his presence and engaging with us on the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

I wish to also thank the Parliament of Botswana, and particularly congratulate Speaker of the National Assembly of Botswana, Hon. Phandu T.C. Skelemani, for not only the quality of the organisation of this Plenary Assembly, but also for ensuring the proceedings were conducted efficiently.

The interludes between the meetings were filled with informative and entertaining videos, which left us in awe of the traditions of the people of Botswana, and have left us looking forward to the day that we shall be able to visit the beautiful country physically. We are indebted to you Speaker and the Batswana as a whole.

The overarching theme under which we held this Plenary was: “Leveraging the African Continental Free trade Area (AfCFTA) for Post-COVID Economic Recovery in Southern Africa: The Role of SADC Parliamentary Forum and National Parliaments”.

As I reflect on the engagements of the last three days during this 49^th Plenary Assembly, it becomes crystal clear that much will have to be done by us, as Parliaments and Parliamentarians, to ensure the implementation of the resolutions we have taken on various issues of regional importance and concerns raised in the Reports of the Executive Committee, the Standing Committees and the Regional Women’s Parliamentary Caucus (RWPC).

Following our robust discussions over the past three days we came up with numerous resolutions that will require us to put all hands and resources on deck to ensure that appropriate action is taken for the implementation of these resolutions.

Amongst the resolutions we have taken is to call on all SADC Member States to eliminate the invisible wall that is hampering Africa’s ability to access vaccines and ensure that everyone has access to this potentially lifesaving medication.

We further implore SADC States to move with speed to domesticate the SADC Protocol on Health and successfully implement the SADC Pharmaceutical Programme which advocates for regional pharmaceutical hubs. These will go a long way in addressing inequalities in access to crucial medication and vaccines.

In addition, we also call on all SADC Parliamentarians to urge their governments and other role players in the fight against Coronavirus to ensure that vaccine campaigns in the SADC Region deliberately include women in order to improve women’s access to the vaccines.

Following the illuminating presentations from the resource persons we invited to equip us on the theme during the Symposium, we resolved amongst others to call on SADC Governments to, in addition to ratifying the AfCFTA, to also domesticate, implement, and comply with the provisions of the AfCFTA Agreement.

We implore the SADC Governments to deliberately and collectively create a peaceful and secure environment for their citizens and become a beacon of peace while creating a conducive environment for regional trade to thrive.

We urge all National Parliaments, in collaboration with the SADC PF Secretariat, to capacitate Parliamentarians on their legislative and oversight mandate to ensure the effective implementation of the AfCFTA and to build a more inclusive and equitable SADC Region – beyond the COVID-19 Pandemic.

We further encourage all Parliamentarians in the SADC region to take full advantage of the AfCFTA to develop programmes that are targeted at empowering women to fully participate in trade and to ensure that trade enhances opportunities for all.

We also call for close collaboration between the SADC Parliaments and the AfCFTA Secretariat, including other stakeholders, to partner with the women in the SADC Region in promoting gender-friendly trade policies and to raise awareness on the challenges that women face in conducting trade particularly across our borders.

On the matter of One-Stop Border Posts (OSBPs), we strongly urge SADC Governments to demonstrate strong leadership and commitment in developing infrastructure that facilitates cross border trade such as OSBPs and roads, among others, in order to enhance trade facilitation including advancement of Regional economic integration.

Being fully cognisant of the importance of technology in bridging the gaps we implore SADC Governments to ensure that matters of ICT are adequately managed by concerned parties at any given OSBP before commencement of operations to avoid disruptions in trade facilitation processes.

Furthermore, we strongly recommend that SADC Governments must, as much as possible, ensure that border officials from the countries involved in a particular OSBP are subjected to common training and other capacity building programmes in order to provide uniform and professional services to traders and travellers at all OSBPs.

We believe that properly and sufficiently equipped OSBPs will play a key role in harnessing domestic tourism across our country’s borders.

Therefore, we encourage SADC Members States to support the implementation of the SADC Unified Visa to facilitate movement of tourists across the region.

We further urge SADC Member States to streamline visa and immigration procedures to ensure the smooth movement of tourists in the region.

We also call on SADC Parliaments and parliamentarians to advocate for COVID relief funds and increased budgetary allocation to the tourism sector in order to accelerate the recovery of the sector.

The 49^th Plenary Assembly resolutions are, in terms of Rule 6(3) of the SADC PF Rules of Procedure, to “be submitted to the SADC Secretariat and to relevant National Ministries through National Parliaments.”

In closing, I wish to thank the Secretary General Ms Boemo Sekgoma, the Secretaries/Clerks of national Parliaments, the SADC PF Secretariat and all SADC PF staff, not forgetting all the support staff from the Parliaments across the region for doing sterling work in ensuring that this 49^th Plenary Assembly was a success.

• Hon. Christophe Mboso N’kodia Pwanga is President of the SADC Parliamentary Forum