Who We Are

The Southern African Development Community (SADC), was formed in 1980 and has 16 Member States. The Community has a combined population of approximately 380 million and a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of more than US$780 billion (2021).

Built upon the Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC - 1980), the Southern African Development Community (SADC) was formally established in August 1992 with the adoption of the SADC Treaty by initially 10 States, namely Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Eswatini, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. It was later joined by South Africa (1994), Mauritius (1995), the Democratic Republic of Congo (1997), Seychelles (2008), Madagascar (2005) and more recently by Comoros (2017).

Geographically, the region covers the Southern part of Africa and extends to Central and Eastern Africa as well as to the Indian Ocean. These 16 countries represented 27.78% of Africa’s GDP (USD current) and jointly attracted 55.10% of total FDI inflows towards the African continent in 2021.

The SADC Treaty

The SADC Treaty was signed to establish SADC as the successor to the Southern African Coordinating Conference (SADCC). This Treaty sets out the main objectives of SADC - to achieve development and economic growth, alleviate poverty, enhance the standard and quality of life of the peoples of Southern Africa and support the socially disadvantaged through regional integration. These objectives are to be achieved through increased regional integration, built on democratic principles, and equitable and sustainable development.

Vision

SADC Vision 2050 envisions a peaceful, inclusive, competitive, middle- to high-income industrialised region, where all citizens enjoy sustainable economic well-being, justice and freedom. The long-term SADC Vision is to be a regional community that has a common future that will ensure socioeconomic well-being, improved standards of living and quality of life, freedom and social justice, and peace and security for the people of Southern Africa, (SADC Treaty).

This portal provides information related to investing in the SADC Region. For other information about SADC, its work and its institutions, please visit www.sadc.int.