The Chairperson of the COMESA Council of Ministers and also Minister of Trade, Industry and Co-operatives, Uganda, Hon. Amelia Kyambadde has said the private sector in the region should wake up and work had to make the region more vibrant economically.

“There are many challenges that the region’s micro, small and medium entrepreneurs are facing in spite of the major role they play in enhancing economic development in the region. They have being delinked from other stakeholders for a long time and it is time that they worked as a team,” she said.

She said that there will be change in the region during her tenure as the COMESA Council will be run with dictatorship and anarchy in order to make the programmes work.

She advised the COMESA Business Council to continue to positively contribute to key deliverables aimed at the implementing the COMESA policy framework of enhancing intra COMESA trade.

“Our MSMEs have many challenges like being scattered, having a high mortality rate, and no access to credit. What we are doing here should be to look for solutions. Let us come up with modalities that will ensure that we can explore the potential in COMESA so that we can all benefit from the trade in COMESA and enhance the living standards of the people in the region.

Hon. Kyambadde said that everyone should take the challenge of risking their lives for the betterment of the African continent in general and the COMESA region in particular.

“There is critical need to make the private sector survive and grow as they are the engine of economic development. We have to implement the much talked about programmes in order to foster economic development at country level as well as at regional level,” she concluded.