COMESA 21st summit held in Egypt

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Summit
Head of State and Government virtually attending the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) 21st summit.

Cairo, 24 November 2021 (TDI): Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) 21st summit held in Cairo, Egypt. The theme of the summit is “Building Resilience Through Strategic Digital Economic Integration”. The Heads of state and government officials from twenty-one members states attended the summit.

The Summit aims to advance and safeguard the COMESA regional integration agenda. It encourages the use of digital platforms to promote business activities between member states. It also focuses on enhancing resilience against the economic repercussions of the Covid-19 Pandemic.

Egypt- New Head of COMESA

Egypt has taken over the Presidency of COMESA. President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi took over the COMESA chair seat from Madagascar’s President Andry Rajoelina. Besides, the Egyptian President Sisi thanked Madgasqar President Andry Rajoelina for working as the head of COMESA.

Also, President Sisi pledged to deploy all means to increase intra-trade among member states. Moreover, while speaking about Covid-19 at the summit, President of Egypt said, “The pace of recovery from Covid-19 impact is slow. That requires us to concrete our efforts to overcome that obstacle”.

Head of States Remarks 

Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo emphasized expanding trade exchange among COMESA countries and attracting direct investments into them.

Madagascar President Andry Rajoelina pointed out that COMESA has not explored all available resources and said “We are still far from exploiting all resources available in the joint market in spite of activation of AfCFTA,”.

Likewise, Rwandan President Paul Kagame virtually attended the summit and said “Africa’s integration agenda will be achieved by continuing to put stability at the forefront of our continent’s growth and development.”

COMESA- An Overview

Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) was founded in December 1994. COMESA replaced the Preferential Trade Area of 1981.  Likewise, it’s a free trade area of 21 member states from the African continent.

The main objective of COMESA is to boost trade, economic development, and regional integration of Africa. COMESA members share a population of over 583 million. Likewise, The GDP of COMESA member states is $803 billion. It is the largest trading unit and the central pillar of the African Economic Community.