Pretoria - President Jacob Zuma has arrived in Windhoek, Namibia for the SADC Summit of Heads of State and Government which kicks-off on Monday.
Zuma arrived on Sunday morning to attend the two-day meeting in Windhoek which coincides with the Southern African Development Community (SADC) 30th anniversary celebrations.
The SADC summit follows on the Council of Ministers meeting which began on Saturday and ends today. It also follows on the Standing Committee of Senior Officials which sat from 11 to 13 August 2010.
As a facilitator on political developments in Zimbabwe, President Zuma will on Monday present his report with regards to the implementation of the Global Political Agreement (GPA) to SADC.
Economically, progress has already been noted in Zimbabwe with the positive development trends arising from the economic rehabilitation programmes.
The Department of International Relations and Cooperation said the inclusive government was making some progress on the implementation of the under the mediation of South Africa, with most outstanding issues such as the appointment of Governors and Attorney-General already dealt with.
The summit will also receive reports on regional integration issues while it will also deliberate on the current political and socio-economic situation in the region.
Emphasis will be put on the implications of the global economic crisis, the status of agriculture and food security, HIV and AIDS as well as gender.
The department said the food security situation in the 2009/2010 marketing year indicates that only Malawi, South Africa and Zambia had overall cereal surpluses of 1.39 million tonnes, 3.01 million tonnes and 306 000 tonnes respectively. In the 2009/2010 marketing year SADC registered an overall cereal surplus of 162 000 tonnes compared to a deficit of 1.78 million tonnes in the 2008/2009 marketing year.
In terms of maize, which usually makes up more than 80 percent of total cereal production, the region had an increased surplus of 4.11 million tonnes in 2009/10 compared to a surplus of only 1.69 million tonnes in 2008/09. Maize surpluses were available in Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa and Zambia.
The SADC Region has also recorded positive results especially in the implementation of Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ARV) and Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) programmes.
In this regard, eight Member States recorded coverage rates in the provision of Anti-Retroviral Treatment of at least 50 percent whilst PMTCT programmes have rapidly expanded with five Member States recording coverage rates of 70 percent and above.
The Windhoek summit will receive a Status Report on progress made with regard to infrastructure which is a key enabler of socio-economic development and deeper regional economic integration.
This year's report articulates the progress made by each of the individual Member States with the implementation of infrastructure as well as its strategy going forward. It carries a Special Feature on Namibia as the 2010 host country for the summit and provides synergies between the national and regional frameworks, the department said.
