One of the key roles of a government is to develop the national budget as a guide towards achieving specific development and social objectives. This includes determining the resource envelope namely; domestic revenue (tax and non-tax revenue), donor grants, and the borrowing needs for funding the identified priorities. Quite often, fiscal outturns differ substantially from…
Read more
Rwanda’s Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) engaged in horticulture and agro-processing are set to access the Egyptian market following a successful trade mission facilitated by the COMESA Regional Enterprise Competitiveness and Access to Markets Programme (RECAMP). Fourteen SMEs from the Private Sector Federation accompanied by two officials from the Ministry of Trade and Industry…
Read more
The COMESA Monetary Institute (CMI) has commenced preparatory work towards the production of a Financial Stability Report (FSR) for the COMESA region. The first working group of experts meeting took place in Nairobi, Kenya on 22 – 24 June 2022 with participants from the Central Banks of DR Congo, Egypt, Mauritius, Sudan and Zambia. The…
Read more
Management and Senior staff at COMESA Secretariat led by Secretary General (SG) Chileshe Kapwepwe, participated in a two-day team building retreat in Lusaka from 29 – 30 June 2022. This followed over two years of flexi-working, from home or office since the onset of COVID-19. The retreat provided an opportunity to reconnect, meet and bond…
Read more
Tuesday, June 28, 2022: COMESA and Texas A&M Agrilife Research, USA have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to support mycotoxin risk management involving aflatoxins and fumonisins for trade commodities and staples. This is a key pillar of mutual recognition of certificates of analysis amongst trading countries. Aflatoxins and fumonisins are naturally occurring toxins and…
Read more
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.…
Read more
Ministers responsible for health from the COMESA region have adopted Rules of Procedure to guide the establishment of a COMESA health desk and a regional statutory committee on health matters. This follows the recommendations by the 42nd COMESA Council of Ministers Meeting held in November 2021 which directed that a committee on health be established.…
Read more
The establishment of a statutory Committee on health and a COMESA health desk are some of the new initiatives by COMESA Secretariat in collaboration with the African Union Center for Diseases Control (AU-CDC) to enhance intra-regional cooperation in the health sector. Towards this end, the two organizations conducted the first meeting on Monday 20 June…
Read more
The Fifth Meeting of the COMESA Sub-Committee on the Kenya Sugar Safeguard conducted a virtual two-day meeting 15-16 June 2022 to consider issues relating to the implementation of the Safeguard. Over the years, Kenya has been granted safeguards by the COMESA Council of Ministers to enable it undertake measures to re-structure its domestic sugar sector…
Read more
Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and neighbouring countries within the Great Lakes Region of Eastern Africa are set to benefit from the new Great Lakes Trade Facilitation and Integration Project approved on June 9, 2022, by the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors. The $250 million International Development Association (IDA*) financing aims to…
Read more
