COMESA

By · · ·
Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa, COMESA
 

Printed by;

Shamily said

0656 848274
Dodoma tanzania

Establishment and member countries

The Treaty establishing COMESA was signed on 5th November 1993 in Kampala, Uganda and was ratified a year later in Lilongwe, Malawi on 8th December 1994. Member countries are Angola, Burundi comoros, D.R. Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Rwanda, Seycelles, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
COMESA replaced the former Preferential Trade Area (PTA) which had existed from the earlier days of 1981. COMESA was established 'as an organisation of free independent sovereign states which have agreed to co-operate in developing their natural and human resources for the good of all their people.'
Its main focus is on the formation of a large economic and trading unit that is capable of overcoming some of the barriers that are faced by individual states. By the year 2000, all internal trade tariffs and barriers will be removed. Within 4 years after that COMESA will have introduced a common external tariff structure to deal with all third party trade and will have considerably simplified all procedures. It has a wide-ranging series of other objectives which necessarily include in its priorities the promotion of peace and security in the region.

History of COMESA

At the first and second conferences of independent African States, held in Accra, Ghana, in April 1958 and in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in June 1960, respectively, economic problems to be faced by independent Africa were discussed. There was a consensus that the smallness and fragmentation of post-colonial African national markets would constitute a major obstacle to the diversification of economic activity, away from a concentration on production of a narrow range of primary exports, to the creation of modern and internationally competitive enterprises, which would satisfy domestic needs and meet export requirements. It was, therefore, agreed that African countries which had gained political independence, should promote economic co-operation among themselves.
Priorities and Objectives according to the Treaty
The Treaty establishing COMESA binds together free independent sovereign States which have agreed to co-operate in exploiting their natural and human re- sources for the common good of all their peoples. In attaining that goal, COMESA recognises that peace, security and stability are basic factors in providing investment, development, trade and regional economic integration. 
(a) equality and inter-independence of the member States;
(b) solidarity and collective self-reliance among the member States;
(c) inter-State co-operation, harmonisation of policies and integration of programmes among the member States;
(d) non-aggression between the member States;
(e) recognition, promotion and protection of human and people's rights in accordance with the provisions of the African Charter on Human and People's Rights;
(f) accountability, economic justice and popular participation in development;
(g) the recognition and observance of the rule of law;
(h) the promotion and sustenance of a democratic system of governance in each member State;
(i) the maintenance of regional peace and stability through the promotion and strengthening of good neighbourliness; and
j) the peaceful settlement of disputes among the member States, the active co-operation between neighbouring countries and the promotion of a peaceful environment as a pre-requisite for their economic development. .

COMESA Achievements

  • COMESA, as well as is 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • The PTA Bank has, over the years, been very active in promoting investments and providing trade financing facilities. The Bank's cumulative project approvals, 1995-1996, stand at USS$148 million and cumulative trade finance activities, 1992 - 1996 totalled US$345 million.
  • 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.
  • The Re-Insurance Company (ZEP-RE) has, since its etablishment 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. The share capital has risen to US$6.07 million. By the end of 1995, the premium income realized had increased to US$7.5 million. Two additional member States acceded to the ZEP-RE Agreement in August 1996. This shows the great business potential of the COMESA region in terms of re-insurance.
  • COMESA now recognizes that in order to increase levels of intra-regional trade, there is a need to address the regulatory and policy aspects of transport and communications to make the movement of goods, services and people between countries in the region easier and cheaper; to create a legal framework and enabling environment within which private sector business can operate effectively in the region, and to harmonize macro- economic and monetary policies.

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 grnwth poles between two or more member States.