COMMON MARKET FOR EAST AND SOUTHERN AFRICA
The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) is a free trade area with twenty-member states stretching from Libya to Swaziland. COMESA was formed in December 1994, replacing a Preferential Trade Area which had existed since 1981.
Nine of the member states formed a free trade area in 2000 (Djibouti, Egypt, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Sudan, Zambia and Zimbabwe), with Rwanda and Burundi joining the FTA in 2004, the Comoros and Libya in 2006, and Seychelles in 2009. COMESA is one of the pillars of the African Economic Community and African Union.
THE AIMS {OBJECTIVES} OF COMESA
The aims and objectives of COMESA have been designed so as to remove the structural and institutional weaknesses in the member States by pooling their resources together in order to sustain their development efforts either individually or collectively. These are as follows;
1. To attain sustainable growth and development of the member States by promoting a more balanced and harmonious development of its production and marketing structures.
2. To promote joint development in all fields of economic activity and the joint adoption of macro -economic policies and programs so as to raise the standard of living of its peoples, and to foster closer relations among its member States.
3. To co-operate in the creation of an enabling environment for foreign, cross-border and domestic investment, including the joint promotion of research and adaptation of science and technology for development.
4. To co-operate in the promotion of peace, security and stability among the member States in order to enhance economic development in the region.
5. To co-operate in strengthening the relations between the Common Market and the rest of the world and the adoption of common positions in international forum.
6. To facilitate the objectives of the AU. To contribute towards the establishment, progress and the realization of the objectives of the African Economic Community and later on the African Union.
The obstacles {challenges} of COMESA
1. The level of awareness on the COMESA legal instruments has not been effectively cascaded to the general public.
2. There is lack of inter-ministerial consultation channels coupled with lack of follow-up progress that hinders the implementation process of the visa protocol.
3. There is the issue of reciprocity – where a country relaxes visas COMESA OBJECTIVES. The nations do not enjoy similar treatment in the corresponding member States. This slows down the implementation of the Visa protocol.
4. Political instability in some members states such as Somalia, Sudan, Congo, Libya and others.
5. Multiple commitments on several regional and international groups.
6. Most of COMESA member states are extremely poor and belong to HIPC initiative.
COMESA Achievements
1. COMESA, as well as its predecessor the PTA, has achieved a lot in the area of trade, customs, transport, development finance and technical co-operation. Impressive progress has also been made in the productive sectors of industry and agriculture.
2. Trade facilitation and trade liberalization measures are bearing fruit. Intra-COMESA trade has grown from US$834 million in 1985 to US$ 1.7 billion in 1994, an annual growth rate of 14%, and studies indicate that this can increase to about US$4 billion annually. The challenge facing COMESA is to exploit this potential further.
3. As a result of COMESA traffic facilitation measures, transport costs have been reduced by a factor of about 25% and efforts are underway to reduce them further.
4. Facilitation of telecommunication sector. In the sector of telecommunications, special emphasis has been placed on network development to enable direct telecommunication links through more reliable infrastructure in order to avoid third country transit systems, which prove to be very costly.
5. COMESA has established several important institutions including the PTA Trade and Development Bank, the COMESA Clearing House, the COMESA Re-insurance Company and the COMESA Leather and Leather Products Institute.
6. The PTA Bank has, over the years, been very active in promoting investments and providing trade financing facilities.
7. A number of decisions have been taken to make the COMESA Clearing House more responsive to the current needs of member States, especially the private sector, including the introduction of the COMESA Dollar to replace the UAPTA as the new Unit of Account of the Clearing House.
8. The Re-Insurance Company (ZEP-RE) has, since its establishment in 1992, been able to carve out a reasonable share of the regional insurance business and is now transacting business in some nineteen (19) countries. This shows the great business potential of the COMESA region in terms of re-insurance.
9. COMESA also recognizes the need to promote investment in the region and addresses this issue through facilitation of bilateral agreements; promoting export drives by individual member States, and identifying specific projects which have the potential to act as growth poles between two or more-member States.
