Tshwane — The Southern African Development Community (SADC) signed in four legal instruments at the end of the regional body's 27th two-day summit in Zambia, Lusaka.

The SADC member states signed agreements to amend article 22 of the SADC treaty for the protocols on tribunal, trade, and a memorandum of understanding amongst themselves on the SADC Headquarters.

SADC Executive Secretary, Tomaz Salomao led the Heads of State and Government leaders in the signing of the protocols.

The protocol on finance and investment was also signed but only by Zambia, Namibia, Malawi and Angola, who did not sign in Oct last year in South Africa.

However, the SADC member states did not sign the protocol on gender.

President Levy Mwanawasa, who is the new SADC Chairman, explained at a post-summit press briefing that the protocol on gender could not be signed because some countries were still consulting.

Mr Mwanawasa also said the protocol on gender was still undergoing some amendments.

SADC is composed of 14 countries namely, Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Madagascar, Mauritius, Namibia, Tanzania, Swaziland, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The 27th SADC Heads of State and Government opened at Lusaka's Mulungushi International Conference Centre after a series of meetings by Council of Ministers and Committees of senior officials from the SADC countries.

The theme for this year's meeting was, "Infrastructure Development in Support of Regional Integration".

The Heads of State and Government directed the Secretariat to work out the details of a regional master plan for infrastructure development in close cooperation with member countries.

The SADC leaders made the directive in a communiqué read out by SADC Deputy Executive Secretary Joao Caholo at the just ended Summit whose theme was accelerating regional infrastructure development to support deeper regional integration and development.

The leaders further urged the ministerial task force on Regional Economic Integration to accelerate the completion of work on the preparation of the Customs Union road map.

They further reaffirmed their commitment to accelerate the implementation of related trade and economic programmes.

It was also announced in the communiqué that Zambia and Malawi has donated 10 000 metric tonnes of maize to countries in the region facing food deficits.