Comesa’s intra-regional trade has held steady at $14 billion over the past two years, despite broader economic fluctuations, officials told a business forum in Burundi.
Secretary-General Chileshe Mpundu Kapwepwe said trade currently stands at six percent, but urged the reduction of trade barriers to push it further.
She was speaking in Bujumbura at the 17th High-Level Comesa Business Forum.
"By consolidating our efforts, we can build more robust economies equipped to capitalise on regional and global market opportunities," she said.
She emphasised the need for low-cost, interoperable digital financial services for small businesses and highlighted the huge potential of the tourism and mineral sectors, advocating value addition to mineral exports to maximise earnings.
“The Secretariat is working to promote the free movement of businesspersons in the Comesa region through gradual relaxation and eventual elimination of visa requirements within the region,” she said.
Burundi's Prime Minister Gervais Ndirakobuca, while addressing the forum’s climate resilience goals, emphasised the need for sustainable practices, citing climate change as a threat to regional economies and livelihoods.
The premier praised the forum as an excellent platform to explore regional value chains in agriculture, mining and tourism.
Some 21 delegations from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) gathered for the forum, whose theme is “Accelerating regional integration through the development of regional value chains in climate resilient agriculture, mining and tourism.”
James Chimwaza, chairman of the forum, identified agriculture as a pillar of economic growth in the region.
“This sector is not only essential for food security, but also a major driver of economic growth and a major source of livelihood for most citizens in the Comesa region,” he told the delegates, calling for modernisation and the adoption of environmentally friendly practices for the preservation of the environment for future generations.
Elizabeth Nkhwazi from Malawi, a member of the Comesa Federation for Women in Business and an exporter of rice, beans and groundnuts from Malawi to Kenya and Zimbabwe, praised the customs protocols that allow businesses to operate in the region, but noted that non-tariff barriers remain a challenge.