<\/p>\n
Speaking at the opening of the meeting held at Kruger National Park from May 22 to May 24, SA\u2019s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ronald Lamola, said the retreat comes at a time of significant global change affecting economies and regional cooperation.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Lamola said the international system is shifting towards a multipolar structure, with increasing geopolitical competition, economic fragmentation and uncertainty around global development and security.<\/p>\n
Lamola said these developments are disrupting supply chains, influencing investment patterns and placing pressure on national economies. Lamola said recent discussions among SADC ministers highlighted shared challenges across member states, including inflation, rising food prices, high living costs and constrained public finances.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Lamola said these pressures are linked to global developments but are having direct effects on the region.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The retreat is expected to focus on several priority areas, including infrastructure development, industrialisation, trade, energy, migration and food security. Lamola said these issues are interconnected and require coordinated regional responses.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Migration was identified as one of the areas under discussion, particularly in the context of recent protests in SA. Lamola said the government recognises migration as part of regional development when properly managed, but emphasised that irregular migration remains a challenge.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Lamola said attacks on foreign nationals are unacceptable and stressed that enforcement of immigration laws remains the responsibility of authorities. Lamola added that broader discussions are required across the region to address the causes of migration, including economic, governance and security factors.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Lamola said SADC member states will need to consider how to strengthen resilience to external shocks and support long-term development objectives. Lamola said the retreat provides an opportunity for ministers to assess current conditions and develop policy approaches that support regional stability.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":35232,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-35231","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Southern African Development Community (SADC) ministers have gathered in South Africa (SA) for a retreat to assess the impact of global developments on the region and discuss coordinated policy responses.","published_date":"","news_description":"Southern African Development Community (SADC) ministers have gathered in South Africa (SA) for a retreat to assess the impact of global developments on the region and discuss coordinated policy responses.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/35231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/35231\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35233,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/35231\/revisions\/35233"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=35231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}