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Issue #126 - Friday 19 October 2007 newsletterIssue 280 - 4th February 2011 newsletter

This bulletin is published by the COMESA Secretariat Public Relations Unit but does not necessarily represent views of the Secretariat.For Feedback: pr@comesa.int

Contact Address : COMESA SECRETARIAT, COMESA Center , Ben Bella Road P.O. Box 30051, 260 1 229 725, 260 1 225 107

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While in Djibouti, the Secretary

General met and held discussions

with Prime Minister Mohamed

Dileita Mohamed, various Ministers,

heads of government institutions,

the Djibouti Chamber of Commerce

and the Chairperson of the COMESA

Yellow Card (Third Party Motor Vehicle

Insurance) Scheme:

Mr Ngwenya also met with

the Executive Secretary of the

Intergovernmental Authority on

Development (IGAD), Engineer

Mahboub Maalim, and exchanged

views on common programmes

including investment conferences,

infrastructure development, the

CAADP process, livestock development

in the Horn of Africa and the

operations of the Inter Regional

Coordinating Committee (IRCC)

and key outstanding projects to be

financed under the IRCC framework.

IGAD Secretariat is located in Djibouti,

the capital of Djibouti.

COMESA Secretary General Sindiso Ngwenya visits Djibouti

The Secretary General undertook a

conducted tour of the Djibouti Port

courtesy of the Chairman of the Port

Authority Aden Ahmed Bouale. The

Port has ultra-modern facility and is

fully computerised. It is run by Dubai

World.

Addressing the media, Secretary

General Ngwenya and Djibouti

Minister of the Trade and Industry Rifki

Abdoulkader Bamakrama, pointed out

that Djibouti was a pioneer in regional

integration in COMESA, having been

among the first nine countries to

launch Africa’s first Free Trade Area in

October 2000. Djibouti continues to

implement various programmes aimed

at integrating not only the COMESA

and IGAD regions but the whole

continent of Africa in line with the

goals and aspirations espoused under

the Lagos Plan of Action and the Abuja

Treaty of the African Union.

This week, ( 01-02 February 2010),

COMESA Secretary General Sindiso

Ngwenya, visited the Republic of

Djibouti as part of his ongoing

working visits to Member States to

hold discussions with Government

officials on the implementation of

COMESA programmes and brief

stakeholders on the pace and the

advancement of regional integration

and various COMESA programmes.

The purpose of the visit was to brief

the Djibouti Government officials

and private sector representatives

on the status and progress made

in various regional integration

programmes in COMESA, and to

follow up with authorities in Djibouti

on the implementation of COMESA

programmes and Authority and

Council decisions. He also held

discussions on the challenges that

Djibouti may be facing with the view

to identify whatever needed support.

Prior to his visit, Mr Ngwenya paid

a courtesy call on President Ismail

Omar Guelleh, President of the

Republic of Djibouti, on the margins

of the African Union Summit in Addis

Ababa, Ethiopia on 31st January 2011.

The Secretary General expressed

appreciation to President Guelleh

for Djibouti’s commitment and

steadfastness in promoting regional

integration in Eastern and Southern

Africa and highlighted programmes

and projects of direct relevance to

Djibouti.

Secretary General on courtesy call to Prime Minister Mohamed Dileita Mohamed

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The Chairperson of the COMESA Council of Ministers Senator Jabulile Mashwama led a COMESA delegation on a working visit to Ethiopia on 24- to 26 January 2011where they held consultations and discussions with various Government ministries.

Senator Mashwama who is also the Minister of Trade, Industry and Commerce of the Kingdom of Swaziland was accompanied by COMESA Secretary General Sindiso Ngwenya and other COMESA technical staff.

The Delegation held extensive consultations with Ministers of Finance and Economic Development, Trade, Industry, Agriculture and Transport and Communication.

The purpose of the visit was to follow up with Ethiopia on the implementation of COMESA programmes and consult on implementation of different policy decisions regarding COMESA integration .

The first consultative meeting of the delegation was with Sufian Ahmed, Ethiopian Minister of Finance and Economic Development. The Ministry of Finance is the Coordinating Ministry for COMESA programmes in Ethiopia.

Following this visit, a number of issues were discussed and agreed upon. Below

A COMESA Ministerial Delegation visits Ethiopia

are some highlights:

Membership of Ethiopia to the COMESA Free trade Area(FTA): Ethiopia has not made sufficient progress towards joining the COMESA FTA. According to the meeting, COMESA Secretariat has assisted Ethiopia undertake several studies on the impact of the COMESA Free Trade Area (FTA) on Ethiopia’s economy . It was however noted. that the studies were not conclusive enough to help the government take a decision. In this regard the Minister sought COMESA’s support to undertake a short, targeted and conclusive study which can be finalized in about three months’ time. The COMESA delegation has promised to act on this request with the view to helping Ethiopia join FTA in the near future .

Despite the challenges, Minister Sufian reaffirmed Ethiopia’s commitment to COMESA and underscored that there is no political problem hindering Ethiopia from joining the FTA. During the visit, the COMESA delegation also met Minister of trade Abdurahman Sheik Mohamed and Yakob Yalla, State Minister and other senior officials. The Ministers reiterated Ethiopia’s commitment to promote the objectives of COMESA and expressed hope that the study to be undertaken will enable them to take a final position on Ethiopia’s joining the FTA

On Transport and Communication, the Minister revealed that Ethiopia is now well connected with the neighbouring countries. Ethiopia has also signed and ratified the Regional Customs Bond Guarantee (RCTG)which could help to facilitate the movement of goods across borders. The onely challenge was that Djibouti is not yet a member of RCTG as a resuly good transiting through Djibouti to Ethiopia cannot benefit from the programme. It is hoped that Djibouti will soon join the RCTG to her benefit, and those of her neighbors such as Ethiopia that uses Djibouti as a major port of entry.

Industry: The COMESA delegation also met Minister of Industry Mekonen Manyazewal. During the meeting Secretary General Ngwenya reminded the Minister about the 4th COMESA Investment Conference to be held in Dubai on 22- 24 March 2011and appealed for active participation by the Ethiopian public and private sectors. He invited Ethiopia entrepreneurs to come and exhibit their products and meet with business people from all over the world.

The Minister underlined the need to promote intra-industry trade which is currently non-existence. He added that linking the small and medium enterprises is a challenge. With respect to participation in the 4th COMESA Investment Forum, he confirmed that the Ethiopia Investment Agency would participate.

Agriculture: On 26 January, the COMESA delegation met with State Minister of Agriculture Wondyirad Mandefro. Before he was appointed as State Minister, Mr. Wondyirad was in charge of the CAADP programme. As a result, he worked with COMESA in his previous capacity.

Minister. Wondyirad briefed the delegation on the remarkable economic growth Ethiopia is experiencing pointing out that the 8% growth in agriculture was mainly due to measures taken to improve internal arrangements, particularly on capacity building.

the Chairperson of the COMESA Council of Ministers Senator Jabulile Mashwama led the COMESA delegation to Ethiopia

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During the recent

working visit to

Ethiopia, the COMESA

Secretary General revealed some

plan to improve infrastructure

connectivity. The revelation

was made when the COMESA

delegation met with Ethiopian

Minister of Transport and

Communications Diriba Kuma.

Regard corridor development,

Mr. Ngwenya briefed the

minister on the preparatory

meeting recently held in Nairobi,

Kenya which identified the Addis

Ababa-Djibouti, Addis Ababa-

Berbera, Addis Ababa-Nairobi

and Ethiopia-Sudan corridors as

priority corridors. Considering

Ethiopia’s growing trade relations

with Somalia, Mr. Ngwenya

anticipated the Berbera Corridor

to become even more important.

The COMESA Mission to Ethiopia

was led by the chairperson of

the COMESA Council of Ministers

Senator Jabulile Mashwama, who

is also Minister of Trade Industry

and Commerce the kingdom of

Swaziland.

During the meeting, Secretary

General Ngwenya informed

the Minister that the EU has

allocated resources under

10th EDF and that the Islamic

Development Bank was keen to

work with COMESA to finance

infrastructure projects. He

added that IGAD and COMESA

would jointly submit Addis-

Berbera corridors for funding.

Mr Ngwenya undertook to

send engineers and transport

economists from the Secretariat

to Addis Ababa to compile

these projects for presentation

to the planned COMESA-

EAC-SADCTripartite+IGAD

Infrastructure Investment

Conference to be held in the

near future.

Minister Diriba briefed the

COMESA delegation on recent

improvement in connectivity,

pointing out that Ethiopia

was now well-linked to her

neighbours and that a number

of additional projects were being

developed. For example, three

corridors have been identified

to link up with Southern Sudan.

He added that the engineering

design process would start soon.

Regarding the Standard railway

gauge, he informed the mission

that two networks were being

designed by Chinese and Indian

engineers. The total estimated

cost was US$45 Billion. In

response, the Secretary General

observed that there was need

to develop a different model for

railway construction and that

the Secretariat was working on

proposals on how this could be

done. On railway concessions, he

observed that the model being

implemented was a disaster as

existing railways were transferred

from a public monopoly to

private monopolies, adding

that the secretariat would be

submitting to member States

proposals for an open access

system.

On trans-border road links, the

Minister highlighted the status

of the following projects: the

Addis-Juba Road and Mizan

Teferri-Juba Road which are

additional connections to South

Sudan. The Minister informed

the mission that his Ministry

would provide COMESA with the

project summary of these roads

so that they can be compiled

and be presented to the

Investment Conference.

In conclusion, Mr. Ngwenya

undertook to send a team of

experts to Ethiopia to prepare

cross-border infrastructure

COMESA to improve infrastructure connectivity in Eastern and Horn of Africa.

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IN PICTURESDuring this week Ambassador Nagla El-Hussainy, who was Acting Secretary General

met several dignitaries as indicated (in pictures) below

Thursday 3rd February : Ambassador Nagla El-Hussainy met Mr. Rolando Hugo Pocovi,

Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of Argentina,

South Africa

Tuesday 1st February:Ambassador Nagla El-Hussainy

met Kurt P. Low (in black) Director, Regional Economic Growth & Integration Office,

USAID Eastern Africa.

Monday 31st January :Ambassador Nagla El-Hussainy

met Shane Flanagan first secretary & deputy of mission,

Embassy of Australia in Zimbabwe