The Guest of Honour, Her Honour the Vice President of the Republic of Zambia, Madam WK Mutale Nalumango, MP

Members of the Bureau of the Council of Ministers Honourable Ministers

Your Excellencies High Commissioners and Ambassadors Distinguished Delegates from COMESA Member States Heads and Representatives of COMESA Institutions

Distinguished Representatives of Regional Economic Communities Representatives of International Organisations
Media Representatives, Ladies and Gentlemen  

It is my pleasure and honour to welcome you to the 45^th Meeting of the Council of Ministers. This meeting is being held following the 23^rd Summit of the COMESA Heads of State and Government held in October, in Bujumbura, Burundi, under the theme “Accelerating Regional Integration through the Development of Regional value chains in Climate Resilient Agriculture, Mining and Tourism “. The Summit was a notable success both in terms of attendance of Heads of State and Government and the resolutions adopted. The meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs met earlier to consider matters relating to governance, peace and security in the region. A Business Forum was also organized on the 28^th of October, which was attended by almost 1000 participants.

Guest of Honour, Honourable Ministers, Excellencies, delegates, COMESA is celebrating its 30^th Anniversary this year and together with our institutions, COMESA showcased a number of our achievements during the gala dinner that took place yesterday. With a GDP of less than 91 billion USD in 1994, we are now proud to be a region registering a GDP of USD 1.13 trillion, making up one third of the GDP of Africa. Our Institutions such as the Trade Development Bank, ZEPRE and Africa Trade Investment and Development Insurance have seen their capital base grow tremendously and are now serving the continent and beyond. The other COMESA Institutions are equally impacting positively on the economic and social agenda of COMESA, in support of the 2063 Agenda of the African Union.

As we all know, Geo-political conflicts around the world are straining our supply chains for essential commodities, such as agricultural inputs, food and fuel, among others. In addition, the adverse impact of climate change, including prolonged drought conditions and floods in some areas, have resulted in devastating effects in the region. These situations call for even more collaboration in strengthening economic and social integration among COMESA Member States.

Guest of Honour, Honourable Ministers, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen

COMESA launched its 5-year Mid Term Strategic Plan which ends in 2025, under 4 Pillars. Under market integration, in addition to monitoring and resolution of NTBs, we have made significant progress in implementing trade facilitation instruments, focusing on automation of customs operations, upgrading of the operational efficiency of border posts, digitalization of processes/ procedures of border agencies and enhanced coordination of operations.

To increase formal small-scale cross border trade and ensure increased income for small scale traders, most of whom are women, we have implemented various policies and instruments for small-scale traders including the Simplified Trade Regime (STR), trade facilitation and human mobility border specific action plans. With the support of development partners, we are also constructing markets at selected borders to provide convenient trading spaces for small-scale cross-border traders.

Guest of Honour, Hon Ministers, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen

The Tripartite FTA which came into force in July 2024 after meeting the threshold of 14 ratifications, brings together twenty-nine countries with a population of over 800 million people and a combined GDP of approximately US$ 1.8 trillion. A fully operational Tripartite Free Trade Area is particularly important as the region forms a critical building block to the realization of the African Union economic integration and implementation of the AfCFTA.

Under productive integration, while some progress has been registered in terms of increasing agricultural productivity and production, food and nutrition insecurity remains a major challenge in the region, exacerbated by climate-induced shocks as well as conflicts. This situation urgently calls for enhanced investments in sustainable agri-food system transformation in member states and the region.

The Secretariat is also 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, exchanges and trade.

COMESA is also in the fore front of promoting private sector development with a particular focus on SMEs including women and youth entrepreneurs. Programmes such as RECAMP aim to contribute towards deepening of COMESA regional integration through increasing competitiveness and market access of private sector in regional and global value chains focusing on Horticulture, Agro-processing and Leather industry.

Guest of Honour, Honourable Ministers, Excellencies, distinguished delegates,

Under physical integration and connectivity, the availability of infrastructure facilities and services as well as efficiency of such services help to increase return on investment by reducing production costs and improving transition efficiency. COMESA’s transport infrastructure programmes are based on a holistic corridor-based approach to infrastructure development and anchored on three key pillars namely development of priority regional physical infrastructure, policy and regulatory harmonization and facilitation.

Under gender and social integration, COMESA recognizes the need for effective participation of men, women, and youth in its regional integration agenda for inclusive and sustainable development. Any improvement in the dimensions of equality and empowerment spills over into positive benefits for communities and nations and achievement of developmental goals. In this regard, the Secretariat continued to support various programmes and projects to strengthen gender mainstreaming, and initiatives on women and youth empowerment.

Guest of Honour, Honourable Ministers, Excellencies, distinguished delegates

Allow me to express gratitude to our development partners who provide resources to finance COMESA’s programmes. Over the years, the European Union has supported COMESA in several programmes including the Trade Facilitation Programmes, the Small Scale Cross Border Trade, the RECAMP supporting competitiveness, the Air Transport Sector Development programme , the enhancement of Governance and enabling environment in the ICT sector among others. New programmes include the Africa Trade Competitiveness Market Access Programme with funding of Euro 42 million and a new regional Circular Economy Programme, for 40 Million Euros for the “SWITCH to Circular Economy in East and Southern Africa.

The World Bank launched the Accelerating Sustainable and Clean Energy Transformation Program (ASCENT), a USD 5 billion program and is expected to leverage an additional USD10 Billion from the private sector and other partners and for its Inclusive Digitization in Eastern and Southern Africa. The Bank has also provided funding under the Regional Infrastructure Fund an amount of USD 10 million to the Secretariat in addition to the sum of USD 415 million provided under project finance, infrastructure and capacity building. Under the Great Lakes Trade Facilitation and Integration Project, the World Bank has provided 8 Million USD to Secretariat and further funding to the participating countries.

The African Development Bank provided USD 1 million Regional Energy Harmonisation programme, USD 2 million the Regional Pharmaceutical Sector and Africa Cloud USD .5 million.

I thank our development partners for their valuable support, and I look forward to our continued partnership.

Guest of Honour, Honourable Ministers, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen

Despite the progress being made, some of the key challenges and constraints facing effective implementation of our programmes and activities include:

1. Restrictions on  movement   of   persons   and poor connectivity, especially in airport transport and energy.
2. Slow domestication    and    delayed            implementation    of       agreed commitments and instruments.
3. Proliferation of Non-Tariff Barriers and unfair trading practices.
4. Low levels of value addition and investment in clean technologies and climate change adaptability.
5. A funding model that requires review in order to address enhanced ownership and sustainability

I look forward to fruitful deliberations and recommendations that can address the key challenges and constraints so that we uphold COMESA’s aims and objectives as we continue to deliver the regional integration mandate.

Thank you for your kind attention.