LEADERS from 14 Southern African countries began a two-day meeting in Namibia yesterday to discuss regional integration on the 30th anniversary of the formation of the Southern African Development Community.
President Jacob Zuma, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) President Joseph Kabila were among the leaders or deputy leaders attending the SADC summit in Windhoek.
The SADC was formed in Lusaka, Zambia on April 1 1980 under the theme Towards Economic Liberation.
It has 15-member countries.
The Indian Ocean island of Madagascar was not represented at the summit yesterday, having been suspended last year after a coup.
Addressing the opening ceremony, Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba, whose country takes over the rotating SADC presidency from DRC, noted that 30 years ago Zimbabwe had just won independence from Britain, while South Africa and Namibia were still ruled by the apartheid regime.
Since then, he said, "our region has established a strong democratic culture in which a political transition is regularly achieved through the ballot box".
The consolidation of democracy had created a climate of stability in the region, which were prerequisites for development and growth, he said.
Over the next two days SADC leaders will also discuss economic integration. In 2008, SADC launched a Free Trade Area among its members, encompassing a market of over 260million people. It now aims to launch a customs union by next year and a full-blown monetary union by 2018.