— VJ commends ‘ Uncle Bob’s’ SADC chairmanship

VJ commends ‘ Uncle Bob’s’  SADC chairmanship

Lusaka, August 18th, 2014, ZANIS —-  Veteran Politician Venom Mwanga has expressed hope that President Robert Mugabe’s chairmanship at the Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit will not affect the relation between the region and the US and European Union.

Dr.  Mwaanga expressed his optimistic that the ongoing sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the European Union will not affect the SADC region considering President Mugabe’s position at the summit.

He said the European Union should esteem the views and evaluation of the SADC region concerning the matter and that it must recognize SADC’s stance on supporting the removal of these sanctions.

The EU recently imposed indefinite economic sanctions against the neighbouring nation due to alleged electoral mal-practices.

Dr. Mwaanga has expressed hope that the African delegates at the ongoing summit among other issues will reiterate efforts on the removal of the sanctions on Zimbabwe for the country to take its rightful place in the region and the world.

ZANIS reports that the Veteran politician said this in an interview in Lusaka, today.

He has however commended the theme for this year’s summit adding that he hopes the deliberations during the meetings will result in SADC region being put on a new path of progress.

He noted that one of his aspirations of the summit is for African leaders to tackle the common serious challenges being faced in the region among other things.

Dr. Mwaanga also hopes that the deliberation at the summit will also result in African countries exporting finished products and not just raw materials.

The theme for the 34th SADC Heads of state is : “SADC strategy for Economic Transformation: Leveraging the Regions Diverse Resources for Sustainable Economic and social development through Beneficiation and value addition”.

Meanwhile, Dr. Mwaanga has also congratulated Zimbabwean president for taking over chairmanship of the ongoing Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit.

Dr. Mwaanga said President Robert Mugabe deserve the chairmanship position of the 15 member SADC regional grouping at the 34th heads of state summit.

President Mugabe whose country last hosted a SADC Summit 25 years ago has taken over the SADC chairmanship from Malawi’s President Peter Mutharika.