By JULIUS BARIGABA

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The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) will this month hold its first summit in more than three years, highlighting a difficult period for the bloc during which trade dropped by 11 percent blamed on the Covid-19 pandemic and supply challenges.

The secretariat this week said the 21st summit will take place on November 23 in Cairo, Egypt. President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi assumes chairmanship of the bloc’s authority, the group of heads of State and government. He is taking over from Madagascar’s President Andry Rajoelina.

“The incoming chair will pronounce his focus during the handing over,” said Mwangi Gakunga of the Comesa Secretariat.

The summit is expected to come up with a post-Covid recovery strategy under the theme “Building Resilience Through Strategic Digital Economic Integration”, motivated by emerging regional and global economic and trade challenges that have impacted heavily on Comesa’s integration.

The bloc seeks to safeguard and advance its integration agenda through digital platforms given the uncertain nature of shocks such as those created by Covid-19.

The summit that will take place physically and virtually will be preceded by two meetings of policy organs — the 42nd meeting of the Council of Ministers and the 42nd Intergovernmental Committee.

Sources told The EastAfrican that the elephant in the room is the deteriorating political and security situation in two of the bloc’s biggest member states — Ethiopia and Sudan — which is a source of worry for trading partners.

Egypt also has had frosty relations with Ethiopia over construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile. Similar spats between member states, supply-side challenges, the prevalence of non-tariff barriers and travel restrictions imposed to halt the spread of Covid-19 have seen Comesa total exports decline from $10.9 billion in 2019 to $9.7 billion in 2020.

A trade update at the 37th meeting of Comesa Trade and Customs Committee held between October 13 and 15 attributed the low regional trade to an information gap on trading opportunities and regulatory requirements.

The meeting recommended identification and elimination of non-tariff barriers and setting up of the Comesa digital free trade area for virtual clearance of goods. It also proposed that the bloc builds platforms for trade promotion and e-commerce.

“If well implemented these could significantly increase Comesa trade, reduce time and cost, increase regional competitiveness, create jobs and positively impact on living standards of our people,” said Dr Kipyego Cheluget, the assistant secretary general in charge of programmes.

Analysts say poor relations between member states, bad blood between leaders and domestic politics have caused inertia at the summit level of all regional blocs, including the East African Community.

Since the 2016 Madagascar Summit, the bloc met once in 2018, meaning the Indian Ocean island nation has held the chair for six years.