By Sharon Tawuya
Harare, (New Ziana) – The heads of state and government summit of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) opened in Harare on Thursday, with incoming chairman, and host, President Emmerson Mnangagwa calling for practical and sustainable solutions to increase intra-regional trade, economic co-operation and resilience in an increasingly unsteady global economy.
The economic bloc is one of Africa’s largest, offering a market of more than 600 million people, a combined gross domestic product of over US$1 trillion, and a large membership of 21 countries spanning all corners of the continent.
In his welcoming remarks, President Mnangagwa said all COMESA member states shared the responsibility to build resilience, especially economic, to shield themselves and the bloc as a whole from external shocks such as the ongoing disrupted fuel, fertiliser and food supplies as a result of twin conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.
“This summit provides us with the opportunity to collectively advance practical and sustainable solutions. The shared responsibility to strengthen resilience, mitigate external shocks and reposition our region rests on our shoulders. We are masters of our own destiny,” he said.
One of the ways the bloc hopes to achieve this is by increasing intra-regional trade through pulling down trade barriers that inhibited this, and economic co-operation in general.
With a market roughly half Africa’s population, officials feel COMESA offered a strong potential resilience pillar against geopolitical economic shocks, if only leaders could take decisions that facilitated deeper intra-regional trade, and economic integration.
In the lead up to the summit, President Mnangagwa said this would be one of the areas his COMESA chairmanship will focus on, and ensuring region-wide food security and peace.
In the welcoming remarks, President Mnangagwa chronicled the 25-year transition of COMESA from a small Preferential Trade Area body to the continental economic powerhouse it had become today.
He said the full trade and economic potential of the bloc was yet to be fully tapped.
He expressed gratitude to the COMESA Secretariat, ministers, senior officials, development partners and the business sector for working closely with Zimbabwe to make the summit a success.
President Mnangagwa said the summit theme: “One Market, One Future: Advancing Inclusive Industrialization, Investment and Regional Integration in COMESA,” was a clarion call to make regional integration a tangible reality in people’s daily lives.
This, he said, should spur region-wide industrialization, creation of decent jobs and ensure no one and no place is left behind, through local value addition and beneficiation.
He called for broadened economic prospects for women, youths, small and medium enterprises, smallholder farmers, and focus on innovation and the green agenda.
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