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Lovemore Ranga Mataire Staff Writer
The SADC Council of Ministers on Wednesday endorsed a decision from the Committee of Ministers of Finance and Investment to operationalise the Regional Development Fund set to enhance self-sustenance.

Annotated Agenda minutes of SADC/CM/2/2017/1A urged members to expedite internal processes to stay on course in operationalising the Regional Development Fund.

It was agreed that member states need to contribute an initial capitalisation of US$120 million payable in equal instalments over a three-year commitment period starting from 2017/2018 financial year.

The council urged members that have not ratified the agreement on the operationalisation of the regional fund to do so to enable Member States to make first subscriptions.

A recommendation to effect a moratorium on new proposals of funds and facilities to allow for analysis of all existing funds and how they can be incorporated in the SADC Region Development Fund including modalities of accessing the funds was also passed.

Only seven Member States have so far signed the agreement on the operationalisation of the fund, but none has deposited instruments of ratification with the Secretariat with Mauritius indicating its willingness to sign.

The seven that have signed the agreement are Angola, DRC, Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.

“SADC is further considering to set up four new funds, namely: the Regional Disaster Preparedness and Response Fund; the Agricultural Development Fund; the Transfrontier Conservation Area Fund and the SADC Standby Force Peace Fund,” reads the Council of Ministers annotated agenda adopted on Wednesday.

The regional fund is to be established in two phases with Phase 1 focusing on project preparation and development while Phase 2 will focus on funding of infrastructure development, integration and economic adjustments and social development windows.

The report says discussions with the African Development Bank (AfDB) were at an advanced stage to support consultancy to analyse the existing funds and those that are being contemplated, including how they can be incorporated into the Regional Development Fund.

The SADC Secretariat was directed to engage with International Cooperating Partners for equity participation and grant allocation in the SADC Regional Development Fund, notwithstanding the equity participation of members.

The Secretariat was further tasked to expedite work on investigating options for disaster risk financing including options for risk insurance facilities that can assist member states to address both humanitarian and infrastructure reconstruction and recovery needs caused by natural disasters and report progress at the next meeting.

During his tenure as SADC chairperson in 2014, President Mugabe called for the regional body to mobilise local resources to finance its operations instead of depending on benevolence donors even in times of disasters.

It is also during his tenure that he called for the region to expedite industrialisation through beneficiation and value addition.

SADC has since President Mugabe’s tenure consistently focused on value addition as evidenced by the 37th SADC Heads of State Summit underway in Pretoria whose theme is: “Partnering with private sector in developing industry and regional value chains.”