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COMESA customs union conducive to Sino-African cooperation
10/06/2009
ICTORIA FALLS, Zimbabwe, June 8 (Xinhua) -- The customs union launched by the Common Market of East and South Africa (COMESA) at its 13th summit at the Zimbabwean resort city on Sunday is conducive to deepening the economic cooperation between China and African countries, a Chinese diplomat has said.
Chinese Ambassador to Zambia Li Qiangmin, also China's special representative to COMESA, told Xinhua in an exclusive interview on Monday that launching of the customs union is not only a milestone in the history of COMESA development, but also good news to larger economies around the world, such as the United State and the European Union, as well as China and India.
The launching of the customs union signals a great step COMESA has made in the process of regional integration, Li said, adding that as the largest economic institution in Africa, COMESA has step up its efforts towards an African community in the past years.
With the customs union in the region, he said, the flow of goods and people will be increased, the cost of production will be greatly reduced and direct investment in the region from outside will also be boosted.
"Expansion of infrastructure, especially projects of cross-border within the region needs more foreign direct investment and this will create more business opportunities for Chinese companies," he said.
According to Li, most of COMESA countries have diplomatic relations with China and enjoy the traditional friendship relations with China. He firmly believed that the launch of the customs union will promote the bilateral trade between China and Eastern and Southern African countries.
"There is a great potential to expand the trade between the two," Li said. "What is most important is that the implementation of the customs union will attract more Chinese companies to invest in larger projects in infrastructure in this African region," he said.
The ambassador also called for more cooperation in technology transfer. Chinese companies should bring in their advanced technology to help local people improve productivity and reduce production cost.
Speaking of the future of Customs Union, Li, also an expert on African issues, said it should be noted that there is still a long way to go for a meaningful customs union since COMESA countries have been at a relatively lower development level with their smaller market shares and limited purchasing power.
The Chinese ambassador said the biggest challenge the COMESA countries face is that they lack a leading economy like South Africa. In addition, many of COMESA countries are members of SADC and EAC at the same time. The multi-membership is perhaps an obstacle in realization of the customs union, he said.
However, for the long run, Li said COMESA has set on a right track toward a closer regional integration.
Commenting on the closing meeting of the 13th COMESA summit, Li said the biggest winner of this meeting is Zimbabwe which has successfully hosted the meeting. The meeting is a reaffirmation of the progress made by the Zimbabwe inclusive government, he added.
"Africans can manage to choose their own ways to solve their differences and their own problems," Li said.
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