Cyril Ramaphosa: "The task that falls on all of us as the Southern African community is to give…"

Speaking in Durban at a University of KwaZulu-Natal lecture preceding the Southern African Development Community’s upcoming summit, President Cyril Ramaphosa urged member states to turn the bloc’s long-term blueprint into concrete progress. The address previewed the August 16-17 heads-of-state gathering, themed around implementing Sadc Vision 2050. Ramaphosa noted that despite abundant minerals, farmland, energy, technology, and financial institutions, intra-regional trade accounts for under a quarter of total trade among the roughly 430 million people and nearly $1-trillion economy. He framed Vision 2050 as a collective responsibility, arguing that stronger regional integration, infrastructure, and cooperation would lessen vulnerability to outside shipping, energy, fertilizer, and food disruptions.