Somalia seeks entry into Comesa

Somalia could in the near future be admitted into the Common Markets for East and Southern African (Comesa) trade bloc following a green light by the body’s highest organ, the Summit this past week.

The Heads of States summit which concluded in Madagascar Wednesday authorized the Bureau of Council to enter into negotiations with the Horn of Africa nation in line with the terms and conditions of accession to the Comesa Treaty.

The deliberations of the Council will however have to be approved by the Summit which is made up of heads of states and governments. The Summit will decide whether to admit a country in conformity with rules and regulations of the Treaty.

“Upon receipt of the application for membership, the Authority may prescribe the conditions and such other conditions for admission which shall be communicated to the applying state. Article 3(3) of the Regulations provides that admission of membership shall be decided by the Authority,” the regulations state.

Comesa was established in 1994 to replace the then Preferential Trade Area, PTA and has since expanded into a 20 member trade bloc with a Gross Domestic Product of $657.4 billion and a populations of 492.5 according to the UN Conference on Trade and Development, UNCTAD 2016 statistics.

The main focus of Comesa has been on the formation of a large economic and trading unit to overcome trade barriers faced by individual States.

The Summit also approved negotiations for Tunisia’s entry into the trade bloc.

It is not however clear how long the negotiations will last before Somali is admitted into Comesa.

Meanwhile Comesa endorsed Kenya’s request to support its foreign affairs minister Amina Mohamed on her bid to be the African Union Commission chairperson. Elections for the position will be held in January 2017.