European Union Heads of Mission accredited to COMESA met Assistant Secretary General Ambassador Nagla El Hussainy on 24th September in Lusaka to be briefed on progress in regional integration and the various programmes being implemented b y COMESA.

The Ambassadors from Italy, Finland, France and Netherlands came to emphasize the important role of the Regional Economic Communities in forging an EU-Africa partnership based on the joint strategy adopted by the Lisbon Summit.

The background to this meeting is that the 13th Africa-EU Ministerial Troika meeting is planned for the 14th of October 2009 in Addis Ababa Ethiopia and an important topic on the agenda will be the joint Africa EU Strategy. The previous Troika meeting which met in Luxembourg in April, requested that a mid-term review of the first Action plan be undertaken. This review is currently under way and one key issue to be addressed relates to the active engagement of the Regional economic Communities and their role in the implementation of the Strategy.

“We have much appreciated the interest that COMESA has expressed in the partnership for energy and the partnership for Trade, Regional Integration and Infrastructure,” The Ambassador said.