Abundant natural resources sustaining agriculture, tourism and the industrialisation of the region

The region is endowed with important natural resources, from oil, gas, and a variety of minerals (gold, diamond, copper, etc.) to fertile arable lands sustaining the agricultural production. Important inland waterways enable hydropower capacity while the variety of the landscape, unique flora and fauna and astonishing marine resources sustain the development of the tourism industry.

Vision 2050 envisages the economic development of the region through the sustainable use of natural resources and progressive industrialisation of the region anchored in the development of regional value chains identified in key sectors: Agro-processing cluster, Minerals and Beneficiation Cluster, Pharmaceutical products and preparations cluster, Manufacturing: Consumer Goods cluster, Capital Goods: Machinery and Equipment, Services Cluster i.e. Tourism, ICT and Financial services.

SADC Industrialisation Strategy and Roadmap (2016-2063) provides a framework for the region’s interventions to accelerate the momentum and strengthen the comparative and competitive advantages of the economies of the region. It is anchored on three pillars: Industrialisation, Competitiveness, and Regional integration, and therefore defines practical measures to improve policy environment for industrial development, increase volume and efficiency of public and private sector investments in the SADC economy, create regional value chains and participation in related global processes, as well as increase value addition for agricultural and non-agricultural products and services.