African Unification Front
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SADC
SADC
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) was formerly the Southern African Development Co-ordination Conference (SADCC), established in July 1979 to harmonise economic development among the countries in Southern Africa and reduce their dependence on South Africa.
At the time of formation the SADC group excluded South Africa and had as a key objective the reduction of their economic dependence on the now defunct apartheid regime South Africa. Renamed and rejuvenated in 1992, SADC now encompasses 14 countries, including South Africa, working on a regional basis to increase economic integration and regional security.
SADC includes all the countries traditionally considered to constitute Southern Africa (Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe) plus the Indian Ocean island nations of Mauritius and Seychelles and the recently admitted Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Declaration and Treaty establishing the reformed SADC was signed in Windhoek, Namibia in August 1992. The addition of South Africa and Mauritius in 1992 brought Africa's economic powerhouse and a dynamic island economy into what is now the most vibrant economic organization in Africa, one with a combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of nearly $200 billion.
The objectives of the SADC are to :
[1] Achieve development and economic growth, alleviate poverty, enhance the standard and quality of life of the peoples of Southern Africa and support the socially disadvantaged through regional integration.
[2] Evolve common political values, systems and institutions.
[3] Promote and defend peace and security.
[4] Promote self-sustaining development on the basis of collective self-reliance, and the inter-dependence of member states.
[5] Achieve complementarity between national and regional strategies and programmes.
[6] Promote and maximise productive employment and utilisation of the resources of the region.
[7] Achieve sustainable utilisation of natural resources and effective protection of the environment.
[8] Strengthen and consolidate the long-standing historical, social and cultural affinities and links among the peoples of the region.
The general headquarters of SADC are located in Botswana, but each member state has responsibility for overseeing an economic sector. Diplomatic missions of member states also act as SADC diplomatic representatives in a number of key countries in Europe, the Far East, and North America.
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