COMESA

Presented to: Dr. Hesham Mansour

By:

Ahmed Abd El Mounem

Ahmed Agha

Amr Omar

Hussein Khedr

Group: Eslsca 39-C

COMESA

Outline

• History• Countries• Vision• Mission• Objectives• Programs• Challenges• KPIs from international business point of view• Conclusion

History

•  In 1965 (ECA) ministerial meeting Recommendation to create an Economic Community of Eastern and Central African states.

• In 1978 meeting of Ministers of TradeDeclaration of Intent and Commitment to the Establishment of a Preferential Trade Area(PTA) for Eastern and Southern Africa.

•  In December 1981The Treaty establishing the PTA was signed

• November 1993The Treaty establishing the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, COMESA was signed

• December 1994COMESA was ratified

CountriesCurrent (19)•  Burundi• Comoros• Congo, DR• Djibouti• Egypt• Eritrea• Ethiopia• Kenya• Libya• Madagascar• Malawi• Mauritius• Rwanda• Seychelles• Sudan• Swaziland• Uganda• Zambia• Zimbabwe

Former (5)• Lesotho (left in 1997)• Mozambique (left in 1997)• Tanzania (left September 2, 2000)• Namibia (left May 2, 2004) • Angola (Suspended itself in 2007)

Current

Former

Vision

COMESA’s Vision is to “be a fully integrated, internationally competitive regional economic community with high standards of living for all its people ready to merge into an African Economic Community”

Mission

• Its Mission to “Endeavour to achieve sustainable economic and social progress in all Member States through increased co-operation and integration in all fields of development particularly in trade, customs and monetary affairs, transport, communication and information, technology, industry and energy, gender, agriculture, environment and natural resources.

Objectives

• Sustainable growth and development of the Member States

• Development in all fields of economic activity in order to raise the standards of living of the people.

• Cooperate in the promotion of peace and stability in the region.

• Cooperate in strengthening the relations with the rest of the world; and

• Contribute towards the establishment of the African Economic Community.

Hussein

9

COMESA Focal Programmes

In order to create an environment conducive to free trade and investment into the region, COMESA promotes, as a priority: trade liberalisation. trade facilitation. liberalisation of financial & monetary systems. investment promotion & private sector support. Science and technology.

10

COMESA and STI

The COMESA Treaty Articles 127 and 128deal with cooperation in the development of Science and

Technology and call for Member States to, among other things :

• Build basic scientific and technological research capabilities.

• Build conventional low and indigenous technologies in craftsmanship & fabrication techniques.

• Effect appropriate reforms in primary, secondary and tertiary education in respect of STI.

11

COMESA and STI Contd...

• Develop a plan for the development of applied sciences in agriculture, health, industry, energy, etc;• Allocate a minimum of 1% of GNP on science and technology as recommended under the Lagos Plan of Action.• Cooperate with institutions working on STI.• Ensure that research and development is closely inter-linked with production units.

CBC is a member based private sector institution of the Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).

It was established to play the key role of ;◦ a platform for policy advocacy in the development, progress of the private sector in their

respective economies in order to reduce the costs of doing business and increase competitiveness in the region.

◦ Trade capacity building of the private sector in key sectors of Agriculture, Industry and Services

◦ Improve business development services and business linkages across private sector in the region.

◦ Boost Intra-regional trade for economic development through the private sector;◦ Provide a key platform for information sharing on trade and investment flows , potential

business partnerships.

Today, the CBC has been positioned by the Council of Ministers and Summit as the recognized regional apex body of the private sector in the COMESA region- The VOICE of Business.

As a Policy Organ of COMESA, it provides verbal articulation of private sector positions to highest offices of decision making. This means that CBC is not an observer, but a key actor in influencing policy discussions.

COMESA BUSINESS COUNCIL

Amr Omar

Currently;

Operationalize the adopted Sectorial working groups by the CBC General Assembly, namely;

Financial Services. Tourism Services. Agro-trade and Industry work group. NTB Workgroup; Active

Upcoming Events; The 1st COMESA Sustainable Tourism Development Forum- a Public Private

Dialogue; August, 2012. The CBC Financial Services Dialogue- Focus on Regulatory systems in

Banking and Insurance; Formation of Regional Bankers Association; September.

Agro-Trade and Industry Forum; September. 8th COMESA Business Forum and Annual Regional Exhibition; October , 2012. Back –to – Back- CBC General Assembly; October, 2012.

• Successfully held 7 Annual Business Forums- the Regional PPD Forum open to all businesses in the region, discussing key agendas affecting trade and Business;

• Successfully addressed private sector positions at the Tripartite level on the Tripartite Rules of Origin;

• Prepared and presented a Private sector position paper on the movement of business persons and Gradual Elimination of Visa Requirements in the COMESA region; Ongoing advocacy- The CBC is preparing an interim business facilitation tool that can facilitate movement of businesses without the impediment of VISA requirements;

• Formed a Regional NTB working Group, Chaired by the Burundi Association of Manufacturers/Burundi Federation of Chambers of Commerce;

• An active Board that acts as a High level advisory and advocacy team to the highest level of decision making;

Successes;

Ahmed Agha

Challenges

Border congestion.

Corruption and bribery.

Lack of change of mind-set-from trade control to

trade facilitation leading to excessive regulations

Lack of common understanding

and commitment between Public

and Private sector.

Limited use of IT facilities and poor interconnectivity

amongst inter-

agencies.

WHY??

The Origin and Elements of Culture

Geography

History

The political economyTechnology

Government

KPIs from international business aspectimpact Achieved Not

Achieved

Geography As climate ,topography as ingredients of geography which is main point of the

culture origins are different between the COMESA

countries Marketers should do huge effort in this area as one of the challenges

facing the program.

Not Yes

Cont’dimpact Achieved Not Achieved

History There is historical problems between

the countries of COMESA which negatively affect the integration

Not Yes

The political economy

Different political economical approaches

between members

communism , Democracy need to be sorted out to

lead program success.

Not Yes

Cont’d

impact Achieved Not Achieved

Technology Although of the STI program as

part of the COMESA there is

still issues impeding the

objective and more efforts is needed.

Partially Yes

Government Stability and cooperation of

government is a hug issue (most of

the states has governmental

insatiability so diff point of views and

direction

Not Yes

Conclusion

• When a company is operating internationally each new environment that is influenced by elements unfamiliar and sometimes unrecognizable to the marketer complicates the task.

• Special effort and study are needed to absorb enough understanding of the foreign culture to cope with the uncontrollable features.

• We believe that COMESA still ineffective due to the previous factors and need a huge effort to reach its original Vision

THANK YOU