COMESA Secretariat held a regional capacity building workshop for Member States on the implementation of the revised COMESA Regulations and Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) Elimination and Working Procedures. The workshop was held virtually from 11 – 12 June 2025.
Director for Trade and Customs Dr Christopher Onyango described the workshop as timely and essential to enhance understanding in the Member States of the revised regulations and working procedures.
The event offered an opportunity to strengthen the capacity of national institutions and stakeholders to effectively implement NTB Regulations and foster collaboration among Member States to resolve outstanding NTBs and effectively manage emerging ones.
“Let us use this occasion to share experiences, identify practical solutions and reaffirm our collaborative commitment to eliminate NTBs as barriers to regional trade and development,” Dr Onyango said during the opening of the workshop.
He added that the workshop came at a critical time when the region was striving to deepen economic integration, enhance intra-regional trade and build resilient sustainable economies.
The meeting agreed that the revised procedures represent a renewed commitment by the Member States to address challenges in a structured, transparent and coordinated manner through the National Focal Points (NFPs) and National Monitoring Committees (NMCs).
They noted that these instruments provide a clear framework for the identification, reporting, monitoring and elimination of NTBs and they emphasize the vital role of the NMCs and NFPs in this process.
Dr Onyango added that COMESA Secretariat has continued to place capacity building on the NTB frameworks at the core of its activities and he appealed to all NMCs to implement their national work programme as a way of enhancing the reporting of NTBs.
The meeting noted that despite the efforts put in place, the latest statistics suggest that intra-COMESA trade is barely above 7% of total trade and this is attributed to several factors including NTBs.