KING CALLS FOR TRUE REALIZATION OF SADC DREAMS
	King Letsie III has lauded the milestones attained by the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and called for conscientious efforts to be taken to guarantee true realisation of its dreams. Officially opening the SADC Heads of State Summit in Maseru on Thursday, King Letsie singled out the end to the conflicts in Mozambique, Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo, with the latter having recently gone through credible elections. He attributed all these to nations' commitment to the Windhoek Declaration which charted the way forward for SADC, by shifting its outlook towards regional integration and putting the people at the very centre of SADC activities. He pointed out that, much as peace and stability are important pillars, they and other ideals would remain meaningless as long as the masses of the region continue to live in abject poverty. He therefore called upon leaders to take active efforts to ensure that the organisation has a tangible impact on the lives of the people by improving their standard of living through elimination of such obstacles as HIV/AIDS which threatens their survival. The King went on to announce that, in response to the challenges posed by HIV/AIDS, Lesotho has pledged over M600, 000.00 to the SADC AIDS Fund, and called on other member states to follow suit. The SADC Summit is attended by regional Heads of State and Governments, and it ends on Friday. Among the issues they are to discuss are the readmission of Seychelles to SADC and several targets set out in the Regional Integrated Strategic Plan. They also expected to sign several protocols such as the Protocol on Finance and Investment, the revised Protocol on Trade and the Protocol on Education and Training.
	Source: LENA