The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Council of Ministers is meeting in Antananarivo to finalise programmes and legal recommendations that will go to Heads of State and Government at the 45th SADC Summit on 17 August. Proceedings are organised under the Summit theme, “Advancing Industrialisation, Agricultural Transformation, and Energy Transition for a Resilient SADC,” signalling a coordinated push to align trade, agriculture, and power-system reforms with climate and security realities across the bloc.
A leadership handover set the tone for the week; Zimbabwe’s Amon Murwira, who has chaired the Council over the past year, formally transferred the role to Madagascar’s foreign minister, Rafaravavitafika Rasata. In remarks released around the handover, Murwira urged faster ratification and domestication of SADC protocols, pointing to the lag between regional decisions and national implementation as a persistent constraint on integration. Rasata, taking the chair for the host country, committed to steady execution and said island states’ perspectives would be fully reflected in the work programme.
The Council’s agenda is anchored in the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) 2020–2030 and Vision 2050, which set out the community’s priorities: industrial development and market integration; infrastructure; social and human capital; and a foundation of peace, security and good governance. Ministers are reviewing delivery against these pillars and aligning immediate actions for the year ahead with the Antananarivo Summit’s policy signals.
Industrialisation remains central; the region seeks to move further into value-added manufacturing and agro-processing, but that shift depends on predictable rules, interoperable standards and reliable power. Against this backdrop, energy discussions in Antananarivo are expected to emphasise grid investment, market integration and the sequencing of a just energy transition.
The Southern African Power Pool (SAPP) is updating its Generation and Transmission Master Plan to guide cross-border investment through 2045, while a dedicated transmission fund launched in 2024, the Regional Transmission Infrastructure Financing Facility, aims to crowd in private and public capital for priority interconnectors linking, among others, Angola–Namibia, Malawi–Mozambique and Tanzania–Zambia. Together, these moves are intended to expand regional power trading and integrate new renewable capacity at lower system cost.
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Agriculture and food security are receiving heightened attention after successive climate shocks. SADC’s 2024 regional food and nutrition security assessment estimated 67.6 million people faced high levels of acute food insecurity in the 2024/25 season, a context that has sharpened the Council’s focus on climate-smart agriculture, resilient input and seed systems, and trade facilitation for staples. The meeting is also considering technical reports and policy updates flowing from the Regional Vulnerability Assessment and Analysis (RVAA) programme and sector ministries, with an emphasis on turning assessments into targeted financing and delivery mechanisms.
Water security policy is part of this broader resilience agenda. Ahead of the Council, SADC ministers responsible for energy and water endorsed a new Regional Water Policy for consideration in August, designed to improve the management of shared basins and underpin climate adaptation, hydropower, irrigation and urban supply planning across borders. Council concurrence would move the policy toward Summit adoption and national implementation.
Madagascar’s chairship brings an additional lens: the blue economy. Island and coastal members are pushing for stronger integration of maritime priorities, fisheries governance, port efficiency, ocean transport and emerging marine renewables, into regional growth strategies. Existing national and regional frameworks, including blue-economy policies in Seychelles and Mauritius and African Union guidance, provide reference points for measures that can generate jobs and foreign exchange while improving conservation and climate resilience.
Legal housekeeping has real economic implications. The Committee of SADC Ministers of Justice and Attorneys-General met in July to clear draft instruments and track the status of signatures, ratifications and accessions ahead of Council and Summit. Officials again noted the slow pace of domestication as a structural risk to the bloc’s credibility and to the ability of businesses and development financiers to rely on regional rules. The Council is expected to refine a near-term sequence for priority instruments and associated national timelines.
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The Antananarivo meetings culminate at the Ivato International Conference Centre, where Heads of State and Government gather on 17 August. By then, ministers aim to have translated the Summit theme into a clear set of implementation decisions—on power-pool connectivity and grid finance, on food-system resilience and trade facilitation, on blue-economy integration, and on the legal steps needed to make regional commitments enforceable at home. For governments, firms and development partners, the test will be whether those decisions convert policy direction into bankable projects and measurable outcomes over the next 12 months.
