No SADC member state can assure political and social stability and security if the region continues to suffer poverty, underdevelopment and instability, President Thabo Mbeki said on Sunday.

Mbeki was speaking at the Southern African Development Community summit in Sandton, Johannesburg on the launch of the SADC's Free Trade Area.

While the region's efforts had borne fruit, the achievement could not be taken for granted, Mbeki said.

"We will need to resuscitate that shared vision and commitment, the unity and cohesion that have characterised SADC from its inception, as we consider the next steps... to advance our regional integration efforts in Southern Africa."

While 85 percent of all intra-SADC trade was duty-free in 2008, the work was not complete. The remaining 15 percent of trade still needed to be liberalised fully by 2010.

"We need to ensure that all members are able to jointly meet that milestone," he said.

Ruth First commemorated

Before officially launching the FTA, Mbeki commemorated ANC activist Ruth First, killed by a letter bomb sent by the apartheid regime 26 years ago to the day.

"First was assassinated immediately after hosting a seminar on mobilising research to support for the then SADCC.

"On this important day in the calendar of SADC, we remember her," Mbeki said.

Sapa

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