Agriculture in the African continent has increasingly come under severe strain due to increased population, changing access to resources and evolving markets, climate change and the global COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. But in the State of Eritrea, farmers, most of them women, have been able to produce adequate food for the local consumer markets, thanks to…
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Tuesday 4th August 2020: Ministers responsible for agriculture, environment and natural resources have adopted the COMESA COVID-19 Food Security Response Plan to help the region deal with the impacts of Covid-19 on regional food security. In their 7th joint meeting conducted virtually, the Ministers expressed concern about the unfolding effects of Covid-19 on food and…
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Tuesday, August 4, 2020: The sugar industry in Kenya has steadily expanded over the years, currently with 15 white sugar mills being opened and several jaggery (healthy sugar alternative) operators in place. This development has been attributed to the safeguard granted by COMESA since 2002 when the government sought protection from importation of cheap sugar…
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Sustainable agriculture is an essential factor to advancing trade within COMESA and the rest of Africa. Over the last two decades, Africa has remained a net food importer, with agricultural accounting for about 60% of Africa’s total trade in agricultural products. Furthermore, agricultural product imports account for around 13% of total imports. The COVID-19 pandemic…
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July 31, 2020: The Tripartite Council of Ministers of three regional economic communities in the eastern and southern Africa have approved new harmonized trade and transport facilitation guidelines. The Tripartite Guidelines for the Movement of Persons, Goods and Services across the Tripartite Region During COVID-19 Pandemic, consolidates those developed earlier by COMESA, the East African…
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Lusaka, Tuesday, July 28, 2020: The COMESA Secretariat has developed a draft COVID-19 Regional Food and Nutrition Security Response Plan to improve agricultural productivity, enhance access to competitive markets and trade in agri-food commodities in the region. Implementation of the Plan is expected to create synergies and complement existing initiatives in the region and Member…
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July 28, 2020: The move by the Government of Sudan to allow women to travel outside the country with their children without their father’s permission, and for criminalizing female genital mutilation has won accolades from COMESA gender experts. Director of Gender and Social Affairs Division Mrs. Beatrice Hamusonde says the move by Sudan recognizes women…
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Lusaka, July 24, 2020: COMESA has been hosting national multi-stakeholders’ consultative forums to sensitize Member States on its Early Warning (COMWARN) System Vulnerability Assessments (SVAs) to establish response measures that can help in the reduction of such vulnerabilities. So far, four countries including Uganda, Zimbabwe, Kenya and lately Zambia have been covered. On 24 July…
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There is need for establishment of a public-private border management consultative committee to foster dialogue, collaboration and awareness on new regulatory requirements and response mechanism. This will provide a framework for continued intra-regional trade during the COVID-19 Pandemic. This was part of the recommendations that emerged from virtual a virtual meeting with regional stakeholders from…
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The regional COVID-19 recovery rate in COMESA stands at 45.57%, which is an improvement from figures recorded one week ago. A total of 84,414 people have recovered out of 185,249 confirmed cases and 2,018,130 tests conducted. Read more: COVID-19-Situational-Update-23
