Dar Es Salaam, the United Republic of Tanzania – the 39^th Ordinary Summit of Head of States and Governments of Southern African Development Community’s (SADC) Regional Economic Community (REC) took place from 17 to 18 August 2019 in Dar Es Salaam, the United Republic of Tanzania.

The SADC REC is composed of 16 countries namely: Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The SADC Executive Secretariat is located in Gaborone, Botswana.

The SADC Executive Secretary is H.E. Ms Dr Stergomena Lawrence of the United Republic of Tanzania.

The 39^th Ordinary Summit in Dar Es Salaam was attended by 11 Presidents, 1 Vice President, 2 Prime Ministers and 2 Ministers of Foreign and International Cooperation Affairs namely:

1. H.E. President, Joao Manuel Goncalves of Angola,
2. H.E. President, Colonel Azali Assoumani of Comoros,
3. H.E. President, Felix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC),
4. H.E. President, Andry Rajoelina of Madagascar,
5. H.E. President, Felipe Jacinto Nyusi of Angola,
6. H.E. President, Dr Hage G. Geingob of Namibia,
7. H.E. President, Danny Faure of Seychelles,
8. H.E. President, Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa,
9. H.E. President, Dr. John Pombe Joseph Magufuli of the United Republic of Tanzania,
10. H.E. President, Edgar Chagwa Lungu of Zambia,
11. H.E. President, Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe,
12. Hon. Prime Minister, Dr Motsoahae Thomas Thabane of Lesotho,
13. Hon. Vice President, Everton Herbet Chimulirenji of Malawi,
14. Hon. Prime Minister, Manduvlo Dlamini of Eswatini,
15. Hon. Minister of International Affairs and Cooperation, Dr Unity Dow of Botswana,
16. Hon. Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade, Nandcoomar Bodha of Mauritius.

The summit elected H.E. President, Dr John Pombe Magufuli of the United Republic of Tanzania as the new Chairperson of SADC who took over the SADC chairmanship from the outgoing Chairperson H.E. President, Dr Hage G. Geingob of Namibia.

The theme of the 39th summit was “A conducive Environment for Inclusive and Sustainable Industrial Development, Increased Intra-regional Trade and Job Creation” .

Among others, the summit:

  A. Noted:

1. the devastating effects of tropical cyclones to several SADC Member States including Comoros, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe and directed SADC Secretariat to expedite the operationalization of the SADC Disaster Preparedness and Response Mechanism as part of the regional measures to respond to effects of climate change.
2. the gravity of security challenges, especially on terrorism activities and transnational organized crime, and urged Member States to prioritize the implementation of the SADC Regional Counter Terrorism Strategy.
3. that Burundi met some of the eligibility criteria for admission of new members into SADC, and that the Executive Secretary will submit a progress report, based on which a verification Mission will be undertaken.

               If accepted Burundi will be the second Member State in the SADC REC that is also a Member of the East African Community (EAC) beside the United Republic of Tanzania.

4. the next SADC Summit will take place in Maputo, Mozambique in August 2020.

     B. Approved:

1. Kiswahili as the 4^th SADC Official Working Language in recognition of its contribution, Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere’s role in the liberation struggle of Southern Africa.

Traditionally, the Member State which has the SADC chairmanship is the one which hosts the Migration Dialogue for Southern Africa (MIDSA) “Senior Officials” Meeting annually while the MIDSA “Ministerial Conference” is organized biannually.

The last MIDSA Senior Officials Meeting and Ministerial Conference took place in Windhoek, Namibia from 24-28 June 2019.

Therefore, next MIDSA Senior Officials Meeting is expected to take place in the United Republic of Tanzania next year, 2020.

Dr Qasim Sufi, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Chief of Mission (CoM) to the United Republic of Tanzania and Ms. Naomi Shiferaw, the Regional Policy and Liaison Officer from the Regional Office (RO) in Pretoria represented IOM in the 39^th Ordinary Summit of SADC in Dar Es Salaam, the United Republic of Tanzania from 17 to 18 August 2019.

For more information, please contact Dr Qasim Sufi, the IOM CoM to the United Republic of Tanzania at: email qsufi@iom.int or telephone +255 682 563 796 or

Ms. Naomi Shiferaw, Regional Policy and Liaison Officer from the Regional Office (RO) in Pretoria at: email nshiferaw@iom.int or telephone +27 636 992 738.