Utilise own resources to fight poverty’-Nalumango implore Comesa

 Utilise own resources to fight poverty’-Nalumango implore Comesa

By Daily News Reporter

Member countries in the 21-economic bloc- Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa should actualise the potential endowed in the vast natural and mineral resources to reverse poverty and vulnerability through regional integration for maximum returns, Zambia’s Vice President Mutale Nalumango has noted.

Despite the countless natural and mineral resources, agricultural land, attractive sites abound, many people in the regional grouping remain poor and vulnerable to various economic shocks, a need to review by jointly redressing the shortcomings as a united grouping.

Officiating at the 44th Comesa Council of Minister meeting in the Zambia’s capital, the Vice President noted that regional integration remains the pathway to redressing the challenges and maximise on the available opportunities.

The co-existence will further induce value addition to product and services while enhancing productivity, generate employment opportunities and increase household income earnings.

The status will also stimulate growth and expansion of the private sector and business opportunities.

The region should strive to prioritize and refocus on key areas contributing to development, productivity and competitiveness with prioritization biased towards value addition, diversification and embracing new technologies, all with due consideration to the protection of our environment.

The regional integration process should embrace women, youth and the vulnerable and should be support to make them active participants in the regional transformation.

There is compelling need for all players-private sector inclusive to maximise on the business opportunities and seek to leverage on the opportunities offered under the tripartite Comesa-East African Community and the Southern African Development Community (COMESA-EAC-SADC), Tripartite Free Trade Area and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

The groupings do not only widen the markets for goods and services but strive to strengthen value addition and industrial growth while stimulating long term investments in physical and soft infrastructure development, but comes at a cost.

“To reap these benefits, we need to improve the connectivity of our countries through good roads, railways and maritime transport means, among others. We also need to unleash the free movement of people to open wider avenues of regional trade, investment and integration.” The Vice President stated.

Comesa secretariat was commended for undertaking various transformative programmes including automating core processes intended to improving efficiency and workflows. Automation and digitalization remain essential in in the digital era as it will help the secretariat to support member states efficiently.

And Comesa Secretary Chileshe Kapwepwe underscored the need to harness growth in global and regional trade to enhance development.

Last year the 21-member states’ total exports to the global market rose 15% with the value of intra-COMESA exports also rose 10%. Imports sourced from the COMESA market were ranked in fourth position and increased by 27% in 2022.

The uptake and utilization of trade facilitation programmes has notably been successful in terms of automated and digitalized customs systems, the Simplified Trade Regime and the tripartite online Non-Tariff Barriers reporting, monitoring and eliminating mechanism.

COMESA has also continued to facilitate the smooth movement of vehicles, goods and persons within its Member States and between COMESA and other regions through the implementation of the Yellow Card and the Regional Customs Transit Guarantee (RCTG) Scheme.

In collaboration with the African Export-Import Bank (AFREXIMBANK), an Online Platform for COMESA Negotiations of Trade in Services has been developed.

The platform, which was launched at the meeting, aims to expedite the negotiations, providing tools to improve the technical quality of offers and increase the transparency, while at the same time safeguarding the confidentiality of information exchanged between the parties.

The success of the COMESA regional integration is significantly attributed to substantial support from development partners, especially the European Union, the World Bank and the African Development Bank.