The endorsement of candidates for international organisations, industrialisation of the SADC region, and progress of implementation of previous resolutions were some of the discussion points for the SADC senior officials meeting.
The senior officials meeting convened in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, ahead of the ministerial session of the 44th Ordinary SADC summit.
Several countries, such as Mauritius, from the SADC bloc, have indicated their intention to field candidates for the AU Commission and Secretary-General of the Commonwealth positions.
However, collective endorsement by the region would only be possible after the panels of experts appointed by the two multilateral bodies evaluate the candidates and make recommendations accordingly.
The senior officials, during their meeting, took note of these and other candidatures of the qualified citizens from the region to serve in international organisations.
Namibia has so far requested support from other SADC member states for the candidature of NamPol's Deputy Inspector-General Anna-Marie Nainda, who is vying for InterPol's Vice President for the Africa region.
"Although there is a process to be followed, there was also a discussion on how to go about it and enlighten ourselves on the process as well as the other candidatures for Commonwealth; as you know, the post of Commonwealth Secretary-General is up for election this year. The discussion also centred on the preparation for the Executive Council that will have to examine the issue before recommending those to the Heads of State summit," explains Ambassador Jerobeam Shaanika, Head of Multicultural Relations and Cooperation.
The regional leaders also want this year's summit to put the spotlight on industrialisation as Zimbabwe takes over the rotational chairship of the bloc.
Ambassador Shaanika says the chosen theme, "Promoting Innovation to Unlock Opportunities for Sustained Economic Growth and Development towards an Industrialised SADC," is thus timely.
"One has to ask yourself, What is the benefit to sustained economic growth? That speaks to all the issues that our citizens need because where there is economic growth, there are job opportunities and all others that come with, and when you talk of development towards an industrialised SADC, then it means the benefit of an industrialised region will be reaped by the people of the region. It also means that our raw materials produced within SADC must be extracted and value added to them before they are exported, so this talks of skills."
President Nangolo Mbumba is expected to deliver his maiden speech at the summit, where an update on food security and the impact of the El Nino-induced drought and floods will be discussed as well.
So far, three countries, including Namibia, have declared states of emergency over drought, whereas others remain on high alert for either drought or floods.