Zambia-Malawi-Mozambique growth triangle stakeholders' meeting: final report

Abstract

The Zambia-Malawi-Mozambique growth triangle initiative was launched in the Southern African sub region by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in collaboration with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) Southern Africa Office in 1999. Creation of the growth triangle was inspired by examples in the South-East Asia region, where the concept was developed in the 1980s as a means of promoting dynamic development among three or more countries. The primary objectives of the meeting were to enable senior government officials dealing with the initiative to discuss and finalize the draft memorandum of understanding and to prepare the document for approval by the ministers responsible for commerce, industry and trade from the three countries. Connected to this, there were secondary objectives, namely, first, to enable the drafting technical committee to ensure that the draft memorandum of understanding incorporates all agreed issues, and is ready for discussion and approval by the senior government officials ; second, to afford relevant stakeholders a platform to review the initiative’s existing mechanisms, instruments, frameworks and institutions for their relevance and effectiveness; and, third, to enable the stakeholders to make proposals for reforms, improvements, and reorientation of the initiative to achieve its stated objectives.