South Africa is always ready to address challenges in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the Great Lakes region, President Jacob Zuma said on Monday.

These challenges include national reconciliation, post conflict reconstruction and development, security sector reform, disarmament, demobilization and re-integration, as well as institutional capacity building and economic development, Zuma told delegates at the Joint SADC-International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), taking place in Pretoria.

Delegates will receive and consider progress with the implementation of the UN Peace Framework for the DRC and the region.

The conference, which started on Sunday, is expected to enter into agreements that should serve as instruments for regional and multilateral cooperation.

Participants will also consider a report of the Joint Ministerial Meeting on the Implementation of the Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework for the DRC and the region.

Zuma urged participants to avail themselves of this important meeting to find sustainable and enduring solutions to the challenges facing the SADC (Southern African Development Community) and Great Lakes regions.

"Continued political instability in the Great Lakes denies the people of the region the ability to fully exploit their economic potential, despite the region's large reserves of minerals, and has resulted in untold human suffering," Zuma said.

These can only be achieved if the necessary remedies are in place, to effectively deal with the continued threat posed by all insurgents groups operating within the territory of the DRC, Zuma noted.

"In this regard, as a region and also in partnership with the ICGLR, we continue to strive for stability and security with the sole aim of achieving balanced and equitable regional integration, as a fundamental condition for sustainable development," Zuma said.

Important initiatives are being undertaken under the auspices of the ICGLR, and buttressed by the UN Framework for Peace and Security in the DRC and the Great Lakes, to reach a political resolution to the fundamental causes of instability in the region, according to Zuma.

Additionally, the UN Intervention Brigade has now been fully deployed; with a mandate to restore stability to the East of the DRC, said Zuma.

He called on concerned parties to work to ensure that collective efforts truly assist and support the peace efforts in the Great Lakes.

"Let us recognize the responsibility we carry, as regional leaders, and ensure that the decisions we take today in this Summit will impact positively on our regional development programs towards creating a better Africa and a better world," Zuma said.