Somalia close to achieving full trade liberation – COMESA SG
GOOBJOOG NEWS: Somalia is among four countries which are yet to fully liberalise their trade in line with COMESA rules, Secretary General Chileshe Kapwepwe has said.
Other countries in similar stages are DRC, Eswatini and Eritrea.
The SG made the comments while presented the report on key developments and achievements recorded in the past year in the COMESA region to the 22nd COMESA Heads of State and Governments Summit.
“There was significant increase in COMESA’s trade globally and within the region above the pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels. The value of COMESA’s total exports to the world significantly increased by 56% from US$ 100 billion in 2020 to US$ 156 billion in 2021. The sectors that contributed to this increase were manufactures, fuels, ores and metals and food,” she said.
She added that he value of Intra-COMESA total exports increased by 28% from US$ 10 billion in 2020 to US$ 13 billion in 2021, with key exports being; palm oil, cement, copper ores and concentrates, beet/cane sugar, live animals and petroleum oils.
“Among the largest exporting countries in the COMESA region, are Egypt, DR Congo, Tunisia, Seychelles, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Zambia. They registered a combined increase of 41% in exported manufactured products in 2021 compared to 2020.”
The SG revealed that on the liberalization of Trade in Services, the Secretariat has continued to support the negotiations in six priority areas in business, financial, transport, communications, Tourism construction & energy services. Several regional and national capacity building workshops, she added were undertaken in collaboration with partners such as World Bank, World Trade Organisation and Africa Export and Import Bank (Afrexim Bank).
In Trade Facilitation, she added, the Secretariat with support from European Union, World Bank, African Development Bank, Afrexim Bank, and others continued to strengthen implementation of several trade facilitation instruments to overcome barriers and accelerate intra-regional trade and investments.
“For the Tripartite Free Trade Area, a total of 26 signatures and 11 ratifications have been received, while three more ratifications are required for the Agreement to come into force. It is important to urge all those Member States that are yet to ratify to do so without further delay and applaud those who are championing the finalisation of this process, the SG remarked.
Ms Kapwepwe further said that efforts to strengthen democratic governance, inclusivity and promote peace and stability have continued with COMESA participating in election observer missions.
She however noted that COMESA faced various challenges and constraints which include the slow and delayed domestication of agreed protocols, proliferation of Non-Tariff Barriers, low levels of value addition, slow harmonization/weak coordination of multiple integration arrangements, restrictions to free movement of persons, labour and services and technical and financial constraints.
She concluded by urging Member States to eradicate barriers to trade, free movement of people, strengthen connectivity and invest in clean technologies to achieve the desired intra-regional trade and sustainable economic development.
- By Fauxile Kibet