Comesa

The COMESA Heads of State and government summit will be preceded by the Meeting of the Committee of Ministers of Foreign Affairs on 6 June and the COMESA Business Forum and Exhibition on 7 June 2023.

COMESA Secretary General, Chileshe Mpundu Kapwepwe said the grant which is about 2 billion Malawi Kwacha, will provide an opportunity for Malawi to maximize the benefits of small-scale cross border trade with Zambia and other members of COMESA.

Tembo further said the whole of Comesa feels that the funding delays are affecting the fight against climate change challenges.

The GEARS representative said there is a need for COMESA to find means and ways of empowering private entrepreneurs and to establish various value addition centres that will improve the quality of products from the Member States.

Meanwhile, the training is aimed at ensuring the effective dissemination of information on the regional and national development agenda to the general public and it has been organized by COMESA in collaboration with Ministry of Trade and Industry.

The majority came from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) and Southern Africa Development Community (Sadc) regions.

The minister was speaking when a delegation from Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) paid a courtesy call on him.

Furthermore the creation of Trade Safe Zones within the SADC and COMESA region will be a welcome development to informal cross border trade that has remained largely inactive because of closed borders due to Covid-19.

Imports from Comesa stood at $41m during the period from $74.8m (Shs276b) in March, according to the report.

Target to increase Capital Budget to 30% in line with COMESA guidelines (2022).

Africa already has an alphabet soup of competing and overlapping trade zones - ECOWAS in the west, EAC in the east, SADC in the south and COMESA in the east and south.

One source at the market, however, believes that there is a ‘PF v MMD’ dynamic at play in the continued illegal activity at Comesa.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development says the Seed Bill, 2019 when enacted, will ensure free movement of seed within Sadc and Comesa trade blocs as it is less “restrictive”.

But according to Kenya’s Sugar Directorate, locally produced sugar remains uncompetitive with the cost of production at about $600 (Sh60,000) per tonne, which is higher than any Comesa country.

Comesa is a regional grouping of 19 African States including Zimbabwe, which have agreed to promote regional integration through trade development and investment.

Equipment for the new factory was provided by Comesa and it arrived in the country last October.

I remember working on the various instruments that were later to be part of the foundations of COMESA.

Mrs. Wina said this in a speech read on her behalf by Minister in the Vice President’s Office Sylvia Chalikosa at the official opening of the ongoing COMESA Foreign Affairs Ministers meeting in Lusaka.

Mrs. Wina says stability of the region is key to the developments that the African Union and COMESA are pursuing.

The 7 million Euro project is provided for under the 11th European Development Fund for a period of four years since the signing of the grant delegation agreement with COMESA in May 2017.