ommon Market for Eastern and Southern Africa

MAP OF COMESA MEMBER STATES

Member states = 19
Former members = 5
Population = 470.26 million
Area = 12 Million (sq km)
GDP = US $ 638.6 billion
(2013)
Import bill = US $170,895
million
Export bill = US $112,546
million
Intra-COMESA Trade = US

COMESAs Current members

19 Current
members:
North Africa
Egypt
Libya
Sudan
African Great
Lakes Uganda
Burundi
Kenya
Malawi
Rwanda

Horn of Africa
Djibouti
Eritrea
Ethiopia
Central Africa
D.R.Congo
South Sudan
Southern Africa
Swaziland
Zambia
Zimbabwe

Indian Ocean
Comoros
Madagascar
Mauritius
Seychelles
Former
members
Lesotho
Mozambique
Tanzania
Namibia
Angola.

About COMESA
COMESA, was signed on 5th November 1993 in Kampala, Uganda and was
ratified a year later in Lilongwe, Malawi on 8th December 1994.
It was formed to replace the former Preferential Trade Area (PTA) which had
existed from 1981.
COMESA was established as an organisation of free independent sovereign
states to develop their natural and human resources and series of
objectives which include the promotion of peace and security in the region.
It's main focus is on the formation of a large economic and trading unit
that is capable of overcoming the barriers that are faced by individual
states.
COMESA's current strategy can be summed up in the phrase 'economic
prosperity through regional integration'.
COMESA forms a major market place for both internal and external trading.
COMESA is one of the pillars of the African Economic Community.

Evolution of PTA/COMESA
1958 &1960 - Meetings of independent African States agreed to
promote economic co-operation amongst themselves to combat
fragmented economies and small market size.
1965 - UNECA ministerial meeting in Lusaka recommended
creation of Economic Community of Eastern and Southern African
States.
1981 - Treaty establishing PTA signed.
1982 - PTA Treaty, which envisioned its transformation into a
Common Market in 10 years, was ratified.
1993 - Treaty establishing COMESA signed.
1994 - COMESA Treaty ratified.
2000 - Elimination of Internal Duties.
2004 - Common External Tariff.

Vision and Mission

Vision is to be a fully integrated, internationally
competitive regional economic community with high
standards of living for all its people ready to merge into
an African Economic Community
Mission is to Endeavour to achieve sustainable
economic and social progress in all Member States
through increased co-operation and integration in all
fields of development particularly in trade, customs and
monetary affairs, transport, communication and
information, technology, industry and energy, gender,
agriculture, environment and natural resources
To provide excellent technical services to COMESA in
order to facilitate the regions sustained development

COMESA's Aims and Objectives

AIM: To achieve a fully integrated, internationally competitive and
unified single economic space within which goods, services,
capital and labour are able to move freely across national
frontiers.
Common policies aimed at structural change and regional
development;
Macroeconomic policy coordination
Competition policy and other measures aimed at strengthening
market mechanisms;
Assurance of the total and irreversible convertibility of currencies;
Full integration of banking and other financial markets; and
Pursuit of measures for the eventual creation of a monetary
union.

 COMESA programmmes
A Preferential Trade Area (PTA) withlowertariffs applied to intraregional trade originating in member countries than to extra-regional
trade.
A Free Trade Area (FTA), in whichnotariffs are levied on goods from
other member States whilst each member State applies its own regime
of tariffs to goods imported from outside the region.
A Customs Union (CU) involving free trade amongst the member States
but with a Common External Tariff (CET) according to which every
member State applies the same tariffs on goods from outside the
region.
A Common Market (CM) with free movement of capital and labour,
considerable harmonisation of trade, exchange rate, fiscal and monetary
policies, internal exchange rate stability and full internal convertibility.
An Economic Community (EU) with a common currency and unified
macroeconomic policy.

 Trade policy
Trade Facilitation
Multilateral Transport
Information Communication Technology (ICT)
Energy
Private Sector Development
Investment Promotion and
Gender Mainstreaming.

INDIA-COMESA RELATIONS
February 2003 - India signed an MOU for long-term economic and
technical cooperation with the COMESA.
October 2006 - An Action Plan primarily in the area of capacity
building in the areas of industrial development, Drugs and
Pharmaceuticals, ICT and energy.
The Action Plan also predict cooperation in trade, SMEs, science &
technology and agriculture.
The COMESA exports to India are dominated by petroleum
products (around 70%) followed by cotton (around 10%).
Major COMESA imports from India are refined petroleum products,
rice, pharmaceuticals, steel etc.
A Joint Study Group (JSG) has been set up to examine the
feasibility of a FTA/PTA between India and COMESA.

Indian Investments in COMESA

Indias direct investment in joint ventures (JVs) and whole owned
subsidiaries (WOS) in the region from1996 to December, 2007 amounted
to US$ 5.2 billion
Accounting for more than 10 percent of Indias global overseas
investment during the same period
Between April 2000 and June 2010, the largest (FDI) to India from
COMESA region was from Mauritius amounting to US$ 49.1 billion.
Bharti Airtel launched its new brand, Airtel Zambia, in November, 2010.
Taurian Manganese Ltd, one of the Companies of Dharni Sampada Pvt
Ltd in India has invested US$17 million in manganese mining in Zambia
in 2010
TATA acquired a leather tannery from Zambia Development Agency
(ZDA) in February, 2009 for US$1.164 million

COMESAs Future prospects

Single Currency & Common Central Bank
Borderless Region
Free Mobility of Factors of Production
Common Investment Area
Single Market for Primary & Secondary Goods
Air and Ground Transport fully integrated & liberalised
Common Border Posts
Also considering a common visa scheme to boost
tourism.

The Bottom-Line
A Growing Consumer Market
Global Access to a Large Diversified and Resilient
Market
Real and Sustainable Growth
Perception Vs. Reality
A Growing, Increasingly Qualified, and Less Dependent
Workforce