Players of the private and public sector, now have a platform on which they can engage one another, as the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) has launched a business council aimed at facilitating dialogue between the two.

The development was revealed at the fourth Sadc industrialisation week (SIW) event held from August 5 to 9 2019 in Tanzania. A Sadc Industrialisation Week declaration draft shows that the initiative will face challenges of industrialisation like weak project preparation, absence of project preparation funds, dependence on short term financing, weak legal and regulatory frameworks, among many others.

“Public and private sector players were urged to work together. In this regard, the Sadc Business Council was launched to advocate and partner member states to improve the enabling and competitive business environment by engaging regional, national and local policy organs of Sadc to the extent that it impacts on regional economic development” says part of the declaration draft.

During the SIW, it was also revealed that Sadc will soon introduce duty-free access to raw and packaging materials for pharmaceutical products.