Southern Africa Group Reviews Progress In Economic Cooperation

The nine southern African nations comprising the Southern African Development Coordination Council (SADCC) held a closed meeting last month in Salisbury, Zimbabwe to discuss where they stand in their plans for achieving common goals of regional and economic integration.

SADCC has held periodic meetings over the past year with several international donor countries to appeal for aid to fund several needed projects, particularly in the area of transportation. The nine nations-Angola, Mozambique, Tanzania, Botswana, Zambia, Lesotho, Swaziland, and Malawi-are seeking to construct transportation and communication systems linking their countries as one means of reducing their dependence on South Africa.

After an initial planning meeting in April, 1980 in Lusaka, Zambia (see MM, June, 1980), SADCC met with donor nations last November in Maputo, Mozambique to arrange bilateral and multilateral economic agreements. At that meeting, SADCC presented a list of 97 projects, costing a total of $1.9 billion, which required funding. A total of $650 million was pledged by the donor countries at the November meeting, which was attended by representatives of 38 countries and 17 international organizations.

Some significant improvements in transportation have occurred since SADCC first met last year, including the completion of a 130-mile railway in Malawi funded largely by Canada, needed repairs to the Tanzania-Zambia railway funded by a loan from China, ongoing construction of railways from Lusaka to Salisbury and Nacala to Malawi, and the opening of a rail line linking Zimbabwe with the Mozambican port of Maputo, which is the region's main outlet to the sea.