EXECUTIVE SUMMARY At its Extra-Ordinary Summit, held on 29 April 2015, in Harare, Zimbabwe, the SADC Heads of State and Government adopted the SADC Industrialization Strategy and Roadmap 2015 – 20631. The Summit also directed the SADC Secretariat to develop a detailed and costed Action Plan for the implementation of the Strategy, and design and develop an appropriate institutional framework to implement the Strategy. Pursuant to these decisions it was resolved that the Costed Action Plan should cover Phase I and II of the Strategy, with specific focus on the first fifteen years (20152030). It is within this context that the Costed Action Plan is hereafter elaborated. The Industrialization Strategy was developed as an inclusive long-term modernization and economic transformation scheme that enables substantive and sustained raising of living standards, intensifying structural change and engendering a rapid catch up of the SADC countries with industrializing and developed countries. It is anchored on three interdependent and mutually supportive strategic pillars – industrialization as champion of economic transformation; enhancing competitiveness; and deeper regional integration. The Strategy sets out three potential growth paths – agro-processing; mineral beneficiation and downstream processing and industry-and service-driven value chains. The paths are mutually supporting and inclusive, encompassing the combination of downstream value addition and backward integration of the upstream provision of inputs, intermediate items and capital goods. The central challenge facing Africa is how to transition from the commoditydependent growth path in which African countries find themselves to value-adding, knowledge-intensive and industrialised economies. The goal is to occupy a higher place in the global division of labour. Africa at present is predominantly viewed as a producer and exporter of primary commodities and an importer of value-added manufactured goods. There are deep structural fault-lines in the economies of the SADC countries that remain entrenched, characterised by resource-dependence, low value-addition and low levels of exports of knowledge-intensive products. This is reflected in the low levels of private sector investment into the manufacturing sector of the economy. The concern of policymakers is that if the declining share of manufacturing (11.3% in 2014 across SADC, down from 15.9% in 2004), is not reversed, the “ladder” to address the deep structural problems in these economies will be effectively removed. 1 See SADC Industrialization Strategy and Roadmap 2015-2020 3 Vers. 11.03.2017