Luanda, ANGOLA, November 21 - The Chairman of the SADC Parliamentary Forum, Fernando da Piedade Dias dos Santos, said on Tuesday in Luanda that the process of transforming this platform into a regional parliament will accelerate the integration of Southern Africa.,

The transformation process will be reviewed in January 2019 during the SADC Council of Ministers meeting after receiving support at the 38^th meeting of Heads of State and Government of the region held in Namibia in August.

For this reason, during the first extraordinary plenary meeting of the Inter parliamentary Group of the National Assembly, Fernando Dias dos Santos requested the support of the MP’s so that there is no "reserve" in the analysis of the matter at the meeting of ministers of SADC.

"It is concluded that the SADC integration process is delayed and needs to move quickly," he said, for whom the tendency of states is to accelerate the process of regional integration.

With regard to the powers of the future regional parliament, which is also one of the fracturing issues that "dissuade" some states, fearing parliamentary interference, it said that when it was approved, it would function at an early stage without full powers.

Meanwhile, the president of the CASA-EC Parliamentary Group, André Mendes de Carvalho, has rejected the idea that the future regional parliament should serve only to "assist" SADC Heads of State and Government.

The MP advised a more in-depth discussion so that the process would have consensus and support for a de facto regional parliament.

Fernando da Piedade Dias dos Santos also the national Speaker assured that, in addition to the majority of SADC countries, the kingdom of Eswatini (former Swaziland), Mozambique and Tanzania has recently joined the group.

The SADC Parliamentary Forum was established in 1997 as an autonomous institution of SADC (more than 300 million inhabitants) and consists of 14 parliaments of the region. It was created on the occasion of the 17th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Community held in Blantyre, Malawi.  

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