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Oliver Kazunga-Senior Business Reporter

THE Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) says it has made major strides in simplifying administrative processes under the Free Trade Area to deepen intra-regional trade which stood at US$90 billion in 2020.

Intra-regional trade within the Comesa bloc, which comprises 21-member States including Zimbabwe stood at US$123,4 billion in 2019 before the adverse impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Addressing delegates at the 43rd Comesa Intergovernmental Committee (IC) meeting that began on Tuesday and ends today in Lusaka, Zambia, the secretary general Mrs Chileshe Kapwepwe said in the coming year, the bloc’s secretariat will be rolling out further innovations on electronic exchanges of documents related to the import and export function as the region strengthens the Comesa digital FTA (Free Trade Area).

She said the Comesa secretariat had implemented various policies and instruments including the Simplified Trade Regime (STR), trade facilitation and human mobility border-specific action plans to increase formal small-scale cross-border trade and ensure increased income for small-scale traders, most of whom are women.

Also earmarked for 2023 is the construction of border markets supported by the European Union (EU) at selected borders in target member States to provide convenient trading spaces for small-scale cross-border traders.

This notwithstanding, Mrs Kapwepwe noted that the region has faced obstacles on free movement of people and services and urged member States to domesticate the instruments related to these programmes. In agriculture, progress has been registered in increasing agricultural productivity and production, food and nutrition insecurity remains a major challenge.

This has been exacerbated by climate-induced shocks as well as conflicts.

“As your Secretariat, we are implementing initiatives to strengthen regional agri-food data and information systems, like the regional food balance sheet, reduce post-harvest losses, promote food safety, as well as enhance agriculture commodity aggregation,” she said.

Officially opening the meeting, Zambia Commerce, Trade and Industry Minister Chipoka Mulenga noted the increasing efforts being made by the Comesa secretariat to address gender concerns in all programmes.

He cited the 2021- 2025 Comesa Medium Term Strategic Plan which has embraced international practice by mainstreaming gender in all its pillars and having a standalone pillar on gender and social integration.

Speaking during the same occasion, Ambassador of the European Union to Zambia and special representative to Comesa Mr Jacek Jankowski was quoted urging member states to start building and investing in green, digital, resilient in brief sustainable economies.  

The IC meeting will receive various ministerial reports and recommendations during the Council of Ministers meeting today.