Malawi’s Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs Hon Sosten Gwengwe has today Thursday April 7, 2022 officially opened the Southern African Development Community ((SADC) National Planning Entities Platform meeting in Lilongwe, with a call to member states to strengthen their planning commissions and agencies f
or the realization of economic transformation in the region.
“National development has never been achieved by accident, it comes through good planning and implementation,” said Gwengwe, adding: “National development depends on the planning entities which should be relied upon for recommendations on development planning.”
Gwengwe also said it is important for member states to align their national development plans to regional, continental and global development agenda to enable them benefit from integration through increased trade and investment.
In his remarks, SADC Deputy Executive Secretary Dr. Thembinkosi Mhlongo said regional plans are aimed at strengthening realization of national objectives, saying on their own, regional agendas cannot achieve any transformation.
“Regional agenda works through national plans. That is why this platform is important because it is through them that national planning entities can align regional instruments to national plans and their implementation,” said Mhlongo.
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) Director for the Sub-Regional Office for Southern Africa Eunice Kamwendo described the SADC NPEs Platform as a space which will allow for the exchange of best practices.
She said national planning entities are the ones who drive growth of the national economies and committed ECA’s continued support to the platform.
UNFPA resident representative in Malawi Young Hong, speaking for UN family in Malawi, said the revival of the SADC NPE’s platform was a key effort for ensuring that the UN’s Agenda 2030 and the African Union’s Agenda 2063 are effectively mainstreamed in national development plans and effectively implemented.
Co-Chairperson of the SADC NPE’s platform, Dr. Thomas Munthali, said the meeting will revive the activities of the NPEs’ platform to strengthen capacities of the NPEs in, among other things: regional alignment of national development plans.
“It will allow the NPEs to take ownership of the initiative and develop a strategic framework for their operations in order to promote effective implementation of the SADC Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP: 2020-2030),” said Munthali, who is also Director General of Malawi’s National Planning Commission.
The SADC National Planning Entities Platform was initially recognized as an official SADC initiative in 2015. It has since then remained dormant until subsequent informal initiative was undertaken in 2020 to form a similar initiative, resulting in the current effort to reactivate the SADC National Planning Entities Platform.
The meeting ends on Friday, April 8, 2022.