A public awareness campaign to promote the implementation of the COMESA Common Investment Agreement (CCIA) across Member States is underway targeting government and the private sector. The CCIA is a promotional tool to guide Member States in various programmes aimed at harmonizing investment best practices and facilitating the private sector operations development in the region.
The CCIA instrument is expected to be owned by COMESA Member States through ratification and domestication. Major programmes to be implemented under the CCIA provisions include, national treatment to be equally granted to COMESA investors and citizens of all Member States.
In 2014, the COMESA Council of Ministers recommended that the CCIA be reviewed to take into consideration the new emerging issues in the arena of international investment regimes and specific standards regarding investor protection, the rights and obligations of investors and the rights and obligations of the host countries. The revised version was finally adopted by the Council of Ministers in November 2017.
Domestication of the instrument will ensure that investment and investors are protected and encourage countries to undertake more reforms and liberalization by opening economic sectors for growth to all investors, particularly the ones originating from the region. The CCIA is also aligned to the Pan African Investment Code championed by the African Union and inspired negotiations on Investment Protocol under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
On Thursday, June 23, 2022, a public awareness meeting was conducted at the COMESA Secretariat in Lusaka, for Zambia, attended by representatives from the government and the private sector.
Addressing the participants, COMESA Director of Industry and Agriculture Ms. Providence Mavubi said the CCIA was timely as the region cannot implement the industrialization strategy, trade policy initiatives, develop agricultural value chains and regional infrastructure without referring to private investment support initiatives.
“For COMESA region, our FDI inflows per year have been averaging $18 billion during five years before the COVID -19 pandemic outbreak, which is little in comparison with the existing potential,” she said. “This is therefore the right time, as Member States and the Secretariat are actively participating in the ongoing negotiations on the Investment Protocol under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) framework.”
Leader of the Zambian delegation, Ms. Bessie Chelemu, who is the Director of Foreign Trade, said the CCIA will contribute towards attracting investments for the development of intra-African value chains under the AfCFTA. She added that the AfCFTA presents the best opportunity for the African continent, including COMESA, to build resilience and promote more trade and investment.
“Abundant natural resources that call for more value addition through industrialization, unique tourism attractions, available of human resources seeking infrastructure development is among the numerous areas for investment in the COMESA region,” she added.
The awareness activities on CCIA will be carried out under the Regional Enterprise Competitiveness and Access to Markets Programme (RECAMP).
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