Botswana President Duma Boko on Wednesday signed an agreement amending the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Treaty to establish the SADC Parliament as one of the organization's institutions.
At the signing ceremony, Boko said the move is "a political decision," calling on SADC countries to harmonize their laws to address regional challenges.
The agreement to amend the treaty allows for the transformation of the SADC Parliamentary Forum, launched in 1997, into a regional parliament with enhanced legislative authority.
For this to take effect, a majority, if not all, of the SADC member states must sign the agreement. Dithapelo Keorapetse, speaker of the Botswana National Assembly, praised the role of the SADC Parliamentary Forum in promoting good governance and regional integration.
The SADC is a 16-member southern African regional bloc whose members include Angola, Botswana, the Comoros, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
