SADC nations must use their domestic resources to propel regional industrialisation and development focusing on what the region has and what it controls, President Mnangagwa has said.
Officially opening the 7th Sadc Industrialisation Week (SIW) in Harare yesterday, the President said the obligation to build, develop and industrialise the bloc lies with the people of the region.
Given the scale of the finances needed to successfully industrialise the region, he said, there was need to think outside the box for innovative financing models.
The SADC Industrialisation Week opened on Sunday and ends tomorrow under the theme, "Promoting Innovation to Unlock Opportunities for Sustainable Economic Growth and Development Towards an Industrialised SADC."
A traditional precursor to the SADC Heads of State and Government Summit, it is a public-private engagement platform aimed at fostering new opportunities for intra-African trade and investment in the Southern Africa region.
"Given the scale of finances needed to ensure the success of our regional industrialisation agenda, and what we control, this being the use of our domestic resources to propel our industrialisation and development agenda, the weighty obligation to build, develop and industrialise our economies lies with us, the people of this region, SADC, and the continent," said President Mnangagwa.
He urged SADC member states and stakeholders across the region to scale up transformation of domestic industries and embrace latest developments underlying the Fourth Industrial Revolution such as artificial intelligence, robotics, biotechnology and the use of renewable energy, among others.
"Greater innovation must be deployed to lower the unit costs of production, enhance information exchange, and lower transaction costs to further help our economies to develop new value chains, while strengthening existing ones. The time has come for industry to become mature and cease the cry-baby mentality. However, it is an acknowledged reality that the industrial sector in Africa faces challenges in accessing affordable and long-term finance. This has in turn curtailed and retarded the modernisation of Africa's industrial base," said the President.
"For us in Zimbabwe, limitations in this regard have been worsened by the illegal economic sanctions imposed on our country. Given the scale of finances needed to ensure the success of our regional industrialisation agenda, we must think outside the box for innovative financing models."
He bemoaned continued exports of unprocessed goods by SADC countries.
"Given the vast natural resource endowments and youthful population on our African continent and the SADC region in particular, it is a misnomer that we continue to lose substantial revenues through exporting unprocessed goods."
It was against the background of the desire to improve industry 10 years ago, that Zimbabwe initiated the SADC Industrialisation agenda.
"It, therefore, beckons all of us, Governments, industry and development partners alike, to give impetus to the accelerated development of industry. Through our unity of purpose, complementary and intertwined strategies, we are determined to realise rapid socio-economic development and a higher quality of life in our countries and region, that leave no one and no place behind," the President said.
"Modernisation and industrialisation of our economies is no longer a luxury but a matter of necessity for the future we all want and deserve."
The present generation, said President Mnangagwa, has a duty and obligation to foster environments and synergies that leapfrog industrialisation and create more jobs.
"For the SADC region to propel the industrialisation initiative, we cannot work in silos, both in terms of in-country and cross border co-operation. Hence, by
and large, there is a need for our national development strategies to be in sync with the broader development agenda. As such, agriculture and agri-businesses, along with our regional energy, water, transport and port infrastructure, as well as trade routes should be developed in a collaborative manner," he said.
The SADC region, said President Mnangagwa, has immense potential to accelerate the structural transformation of economies for the region, anchored on increased production and productivity.
"In this regard, we must re-purpose our yester-year institutions to be more relevant for the world of the future. Fundamentally, our education systems should be re-purposed to bridge the technology gap and current global trends to enable the SADC region to be more competitive. Let us be deliberate, systematic and surgically focussed to graduate from being factor-driven to investment-driven and ultimately knowledge-based economies. This can never be magical, but an incremental step by step, brick upon brick, and stone upon stone process," he said.
President Mnangagwa outlined what Zimbabwe had done through its Heritage Based Education philosophy Education 5.0 which aims at producing goods and services.
"I challenge the private sector, small and medium enterprises, along with development partners, both in our country and the region at large, not to be mere spectators but to have confidence in the capabilities of our young people by supporting the commercialisation of innovative products, prototypes, and new ideas," he said.
It was imperative, said President Mnangagwa, for SADC member states to fully embrace the global ICT revolution.
"As Africa and the SADC region, ICT penetration must not merely be celebrated for enabling social interactions, but transcend to every sector of the economy. We must see greater efficiencies and cost savings in our modernisation and industrialisation processes through modern ICT hard and soft infrastructure," he said.
President Mnangagwa said there is a need to formalise and operationalise the SADC Regional Development Fund and issues such as domestic pension funds, Sovereign Wealth Funds and other Public-Private Sector frameworks must be deployed to advance the industrialisation agenda.
"As the current crop of leaders within the SADC region and Africa in general, we are committed to the industrialisation agenda and intra-African trade. We will, therefore, continue to create an enabling fiscal policy and regulatory environment, with a particular focus on cross border infrastructure and efficient trade," he said.
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"Under the Second Republic, the ease of doing business has tremendously improved and bureaucratic red tape drastically reduced. This has seen us realise unprecedented economic growth and Foreign Direct Investment, while nurturing entrepreneurship, especially among youth and women led SMEs and start-ups."
President Mnangagwa later toured several stands of exhibitions being showcased by diverse industrial sectors where he expressed satisfaction with the goods particularly because they were made from domestic resources.
"I am happy that young people are showcasing talent, it is quite pleasing that all these are not imports but have been manufactured by our own people. We need to value our products, we should not condemn God who created us and gave us this land, we must be happy with what God gave us. In fact, SADC is an institution which must be proud of being SADC, proud of our own region and the resources given to us in our region. Lets develop our own region with domestic resources where we fall short, yes, we shall collaborate," he said.
Yesterday's event was attended by Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, the SADC secretariat led by executive secretary, Mr Elias Magosi, Government Ministers, captains of industry and diplomats accredited to Zimbabwe.
