The COMESA Summit in Zambia: The path to African economic integration
Zambia hosted the 22nd Common Market (COMESA) Summit, held from June 6 to 8 under the theme “Economic Integration for a Prosperous COMESA Based on Green Investment, Value Added and Tourism”. Egyptian President Abdul Fattah el-Sisi participated in the summit during his visit to the Zambian capital Lusaka, as well as leaders and heads of government of 21 African countries, which will see the handover of the rotating presidency from Egypt to Zambia.
Development wheel
The Summit promotes common development in all areas of economic activity, promotes continuous growth and sustainable development in member countries, promotes cooperation in creating an environment conducive to domestic and foreign investment, promotes peace, security and stability among countries, promotes cooperation in strengthening relations between MERCOSUR and the rest of the world, contributes to the achievement of the objectives of the African Economic Community and deepens the concept of mutual economic interests.
Economic development
A study by the Pharos Center for African Studies revealed that in terms of economic development; Egypt has attached great importance to the implementation of the Continental Free Trade Area (FTA) agreement, and the harmonization between COMESA, SADC and East African groupings, through specific measures, to urge member states to implement customs exemptions and facilitate trade among them. These efforts resulted in an increase in intra-COMESA exports to reach $13 billion in 2022, the highest value since the establishment of the FTA, within the framework of the 2000 gathering. The volume of trade exchange between Egypt and the COMESA countries rose to its highest value since Egypt joined COMESA at the same time, reaching $4.3 billion.
COMESA Goals
Hossam Eid, an expert in African affairs, said that COMESA is a huge commercial market with a total population of more than 583 million, a gross domestic product of about $805 billion, while its trade volume with the outside world is about $324 billion, pointing out that COMESA includes 21 countries (Egypt, Burundi, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Kenya, Ethiopia, Eswatini, Malawi, Madagascar, Libya, Seychelles, Rwanda, Mauritius, Sudan, Tunisia, Somalia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Uganda).
He added that the objectives that COMESA seeks to implement are trade liberalization and customs cooperation, improving transport and communications management, creating an environment conducive to promoting investments and the private sector, harmonizing macroeconomic and monetary policies in all member states, promoting economic growth and common development, implementing programs to improve living standards, and also include the priority areas of COMESA work, free trade area, customs union and trade promotion.
Egyptian President Abdul Fattah el-Sisi said that it has been a great honor for Egypt to assume the leadership of the COMESA, over the past two years, in a period of very delicate developments, at the international and regional levels. Egypt has set before its eyes specific goals, during its presidency, based on pushing up the rates of economic integration, in order to enhance the level of welfare of our peoples, in addition to strengthening the capacities of peace and security in our countries. However, despite the successes that have been achieved, we still have much to do to employ our regional integration to face the current challenges.
