| Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA)
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The COMESA (Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa) agreement was
signed on 8 December 1994, to replace the PTA Agreement (Preferential Trade
Area) of 21 December 1981 and came into force on 30 September 1982. Egypt
became a member in July 1998. The aims and objectives of the COMESA agreement
are:
- to facilitate the removal of the structural and institutional weaknesses of
member States so that they are able to attain collective and sustained
development
- to create and maintain
- a Free Trade Area guaranteeing the free movement of goods and services
produced within COMESA and the removal of all tariffs and non-tariff barriers
- a Customs Union with a common external tariff under which goods and
services imported from non-COMESA countries will attract an agreed single
tariff in all COMESA states
- to create and maintain
- adoption of common investment practices so as to create a more favorable
investment climate - a common investment area - for the COMESA region.
- a gradual establishment of a payments union and the eventual establishment
of a monetary union with a common currency; and the adoption of common visa
arrangements, including the right of establishment leading eventually to the
free movement of bona fide persons.
There are 19 member states:
Angola, Burundi, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt,
Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles,
Sudan, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. There are 11 member states, of
which Egypt is one, in the COMESA Free Trade Area (FTA) which offers 100%
duty-free for all imported products.
The Egyptian Commercial Services (ECS), affiliated to the Ministry of
Foreign Trade and Industry, has offices in four of the COMESA countries, namely
Addis Ababa, Khartoum, Lusaka, and Nairobi.
You may wish to visit their site at www.tamseel-ecs.gov.eg
Region's population:over 385 million
Age group of 18-39: 50% of the total population
Total GDP: over USD 388 billion
Total trade with the outside world: USD 86 billion pa
Total exports from COMESA: USD 28 billion pa
Total imports into COMESA: USD 58 billion pa
Total trade within COMESA: USD 5.2 billion pa (figures for 2003)
Total land area: almost 13 million km2
- Huge mineral wealth (copper, phosphates, iron, and cobalt…)
- 90 percent of the land area is yet to be exploited
You may also wish to visit the COMESA site at:
www.comesa.int |