Windhoek
It will take a partnered approach to industrialisation to eradicate poverty and create decent sustainable jobs for citizens of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) trading bloc.
This was said by President Hage Geingob in his speech at the recent SADC Heads of State and Government Summit that took place on August 30 at Lozitha in Swaziland.
Geingob, who arrived back in the country late Wednesday afternoon, said there is no single country in the SADC region that has developed and reached a higher standard of living without having industrialised itself.
He noted that without industrialisation all the lofty ideals, whether under SADC, the Africa Union (AU) or the United Nations (UN), would not be realised.
Geingob warned that for as long as the region continues to export raw unprocessed goods and continues to import consumer goods, it will be difficult to create jobs for its citizens and further reduce poverty levels.
“Key to success in industrialising our region will be partnerships. Partnership must be equal, and transparent. Partnership must foster trust,” Geingob said.
“Partnership in exchanging ideas and expertise, by setting up regional centres of excellence. In this connection I would like to commend His Majesty the King of the Kingdom of Swaziland for proposing the SADC University and scholarships to students from all regional members.”
He said that the region needs partnerships in facilitating cross-border movement of goods and services, and most importantly of people.
According to the Head of State, there is a need to move faster in enabling the region’s citizens to move freely in the region and eventually in the continent.
“That is why I just recently abolished visa requirements for diplomatic and official African passport holders. [In Africa] most Europeans come here without visas, there is no requirement for that, but we are harassed when we go there, even close friends. We should not hate ourselves.”
He further called for regional partnerships in developing cross-border and even region-wide common infrastructure; and to include international development partners in financing this industrialisation agenda.
“In Namibia, we refer to the notion of partnership as the spirit of Harambee. We can succeed only if all of us pull together in the same direction. In other words, the notion of partnership, just like in the formative years of our development community, must be embedded in the execution of our industrial strategy.”
He added: “For a start we must focus on low hanging fruits, or projects that we can pull off with relative ease. In this regard, I strongly support the promotion of value addition in the mineral sector and pharmaceuticals, as suggested by the ministerial task force.”
“Both these sectors are also prioritised in Namibia’s growth at home strategy, which is the implementation roadmap for our industrial policy,” he said.
He emphasised that the promotion of value addition in the agricultural sector and blue economy should equally be prioritised because these are also sectors with huge potential for job creation and poverty eradication.