00:00Leaders of Southern African states are gathering in Madagascar this Sunday and Monday for a regional summit of the Southern African Development Community.
00:08The region's mining industry is the main topic on the agenda of this 45th summit.
00:12They're also due to discuss the ongoing crisis in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
00:17For more, we can cross to Madagascar and speak to France 24's Gael Borgia.
00:21Gael, tell us more about the main goals of this meeting.
00:24This summit is an important opportunity for the South African Development Community heads of state to talk about key regional issues.
00:42Economic First, the idea is to encourage member states of SADC to build self-reliance on intra-SADC trade in goods and services,
00:55to eliminate trade restrictions, for example, between each other, to collaborate on industrialization policies.
01:04What's important and what the secretary-executive said is that it's important for SADC to reduce its over-dependence on external support,
01:16especially since the reduction in foreign aid.
01:20There is also a political aspect, and one of the objectives of SADC is to help to strengthen the peace process in Eastern DRC.
01:36But this might be overshadowed since president of DRC, Felix Chisekedi, cancelled his visit last minute.
01:46And meanwhile, Gael, Madagascar's president is hoping to use his role as host to promote his own image on the international stage.
01:55Yes, this is a unique opportunity for President Radswell to show, to prove his leadership to other heads of state of SADC.
02:10And he took this opportunity of this 45th summit of SADC to inaugurate one of his main presidential projects.
02:19For example, on Friday, he inaugurated his new cable transport.
02:26On Monday, he will be inaugurating the new highway, the first-ever highway built in Madagascar.
02:34And some SADC heads of state are expected to attend it.
02:39So this is a good moment for him to prove his leadership.
02:46And especially because recently he's been facing a lot of critiques about his governance.
02:54There was a botulism epidemic recently.
02:57Dozens of people in Madagascar died from botulism.
03:01And there is also another affair of five Boeings that reached Iran from Madagascar, thanks to a temporary license given from Madagascar.
03:13And those five Boeings managed to reach Iran despite the international blockade and the U.S. sanctions.
03:21So this is a difficult moment for President Radswell at the moment.
03:25And the SADC summit is still an opportunity for him to improve his image.
03:31All right.
03:32We'll be keeping a close eye on that summit.
03:34Gael, thank you so much for your insight.
03:36That's Gael Bourja reporting there from Madagascar, host of the Southern African Development Community Summit.
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