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Real work begins for Africa's largest trade bloc COMESA
10/06/2009
VICTORIA FALLS, Zimbabwe, June 8 (Xinhua) - As COMESA heads of state and government began leaving Victoria Falls on Monday at the conclusion of the 13th summit, they were filled with a sense of achievement that a dream had at last been realized.
The hope for greater integration with the launch of the COMESA customs union could not be over-emphasized, as leaders stood up to congratulate the regional bloc for finally making a dream become true since it was initiated in 2004.
This was the second crucial step taken by COMESA in its process of economic integration after the 19-member bloc established the first free trade area in Africa in 2000 which resulted in increased intra-COMESA trade.
COMESA now aims to have a monetary union by 2015 and a COMESA Community by 2025.
For Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, the occasion was even more auspicious because it had shown COMESA solidarity with his country, to such an extent that the regional summit had to be postponed for a year to allow Zimbabwe, which was the incoming chair, to sort out her political problems. Mugabe also assumed the chairmanship of the COMESA Authority.
"This past year, everything in COMESA focused on the Customs Union - we have thought and talked about the Customs Union, we have slept the Customs Union, we have dreamt the Customs Union; only the Customs Union. This then, is the hour we have all been waiting for," Mugabe said.
COMESA, headquartered in the Zambian capital of Lusaka, was formed in 1994 to replace its forerunner, the Preferential Trade Area. It enjoys an aggregate population of about 400 million and combined GDP of over 360 billion U.S. dollars.
The customs union aims to lift tariffs among member states while harmonizing barriers with third parties through the Common External Tariff, which the community's heads of state and government adopted in May 2007.
The adoption of the legal instruments for the customs union, the customs regulations governing the union and the customs management regulations, means that the real work now begins.
However, in an earlier interview with Xinhua, COMESA secretary-general Sindiso Ngwenya acknowledged that there would be problems with regards to the birth of the customs union. But these would be overcome because of the political commitment of the heads of state and government, he assured.
Problems did indeed surface just before the launch when Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni told the summit that East African Community members in COMESA needed to consult more on the customs union because they already had their own customs union running.
That position was re-emphasized by Rwandan Foreign Minister Rosemary Museminari who said while the EAC supported the launch of the COMESA Customs Union, it needed to consult on how it could align itself with the COMESA Customs Union.
The Customs Union will also have to grapple with the effects of the global economic recession, which are also being felt across the continent because it exports primary products whose prices have been hit hard on the international market.
King Mswati III of Swaziland reminded the summit the recession was now knocking on Africa's doors and that there was even greater need for COMESA, SADC and EAC to harmonize their operations.
"The reality of the situation is that recession is now knocking on our doors. Foreign direct investment will also shrink drastically and we have to come up with strategies to survive. As COMESA this is a challenge before us. The time to come together is now."
"If we manage to get our economic communities working together we will be a step closer to achieving what Africa has been advocating - to make Africa a better continent for the benefit of all our peoples," he said.
The economic bloc also has to grapple with poverty. Deputy chairperson of the African Union Commission Erastus Mwencha told the summit that three-quarters of the world's poorest are in Sub-Saharan Africa, and the number is growing.
"Though a vast majority of them live in rural areas and are dependent on agriculture for their livelihoods, many are landless and are subject to constraints that prevent them from becoming commercially viable agricultural producers," Mwencha said.
Infrastructural development will also play a key role in the economic uplifting of the region. Mugabe noted that the cost of transport in the region was very high and that there is need to invest in road and rail infrastructure and maintenance.
The summit also regarded conflict prevention as a way of achieving sustainable development as resources were mainly channeled towards social transformation.
As such, the summit commended Mugabe, Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara for coming up with an inclusive government in Zimbabwe after a long spell of political tension and violence.
However, there are still several hotspots on the continent and in the region, such as in Madagascar where then President Marc Ravalomanana was ousted by the opposition with the support of the military.
The summit put its weight behind the ousted president, who also attended the summit albeit at a peripheral level, and said it would not recognize the present government in Madagascar and reiterated the importance of peace and security in creating an enabling environment for investment, economic development and a viable regional integration.
Apart from Madagascar, another COMESA member in conflict is the Democratic Republic of Congo. Piracy is also threatening the viability of economics in the Indian Ocean countries of Seychelles and Mauritius. The leaders of the two countries called on the summit to help them fight piracy, which they said had taken the dimension of terrorism.
According to them, the most viable solution was the attainment of lasting peace in Somalia, whose citizens were launching pirate attacks in the Indian Ocean.
COMESA also joined the African Union in condemning the indictment of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for alleged crimes against humanity, calling on the United Nations to urge the International Criminal Court to suspend the indictment.
The Sudanese president attended the summit, raising excitement in some media circles. But whatever the excitement, African leaders have demonstrated that they are solidly behind their colleague.
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