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Supporting Regional Integration in COMESA

27 July 2006

Speedy implementation of development programmes to support regional integration within the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) tops the agenda of Andrew Ngone, Regional Trade Development Adviser at the COMESA Secretariat in Lusaka, Zambia.

Mr Ngone, whose two-year assignment is funded by the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation, began work on 3 July 2006. He is tasked with helping to promote sustainable growth and development through regional integration.

Mr Ngone is preparing a series of concept papers on trade, industry, services and gender for the 2007 Work Programme, guided by the mandates of COMESA's Council of Ministers. He will also be involved in the development of a strategy for regional trade and tourism promotion for COMESA.

"COMESA has an ambitious development agenda, and more resources are needed to help it attain the Millennium Development Goals by 2015," he said.

"However, regional integration is a slow process owing to the multi-dimensional approach to issues. Hence, it is essential to bring national trade promotion organisations on board to assist in the process. This would particularly benefit small and medium enterprises, and help raise intra-COMESA trade beyond the 10 per cent growth rate it recorded in 2005."

Established in December 1994 when it was formed to replace the former Preferential Trade Area, COMESA -- with its 20 member states, population of over 374 million and annual import bill of around US$32 billion -- forms a major market place for both internal and external trading.

The Commonwealth Secretariat's assistance to COMESA is aimed at assisting regional organisations in their various areas of work -- such as the promotion of inter-regional trade that impacts on product diversification and export earnings, as well as focused assistance to small and medium-sized enterprises.