In 2008, DIE COMESA agreed on an Expanded Free Trade Area involving members of two other African trading blocs, the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). COMESA is also considering a joint visa programme to boost tourism. [2] Other objectives achieved to support the achievement of trade promotion include: COMESA`s current strategy can therefore be summarized as “economic prosperity through regional integration”. With its 19 Member States (now 21-18 July 2018), a population of over 520 million and a global trade in goods worth $235 billion, COMESA is an important market for internal and foreign trade. Its area is impressive on the map of the African continent with a geographical area of 12 million (square kilometers). Its successes so far have been significant. (recent Member States: Tunisia and Somalia not included) The Free Trade Agreement was concluded on 31 October 2000 when nine of the Member States, namely Djibouti, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Sudan, Zambia and Zimbabwe, abolished their customs duties on products originating in COMESA in accordance with the tariff reduction plan adopted in 1992. This followed a trade liberalization program that began in 1984 to dismantle and eventually remove tariff and non-tariff barriers to intraregional trade. Burundi and Rwanda acceded to the Free Trade Agreement on 1 January 2004. These eleven FTA members have not only abolished tariffs, but are also working towards the eventual removal of quantitative restrictions and other non-tariff barriers. In October 2008, COMESA member states, the East African Community (EAC, with five members) and Southern African Development Cooperation (SADC, with 14 members) agreed to join forces to form a huge 26-member Tripartite Free Trade Area (FTA). (There is some overlap in composition between the current blocks.) This will take some time, as all three have different degrees of economic integration. The AfCFTA brings together 55 AU member states with a total population of about $1.3 billion and a combined GDP of about $3.4 trillion.
It is estimated that the AfCFTA has the potential to boost intra-African trade by 52.3% through tariff liberalization, and this could be doubled with the removal of non-tariff trade barriers. Intra-COMESA trade increased from $1.5 billion in 2000, when the Regional Free Trade Area was established, to $10.9 billion in 2019. At the end of 2016, the implementation of the LFTA still faced unresolved issues, including tariff offers, rules of origin, aid for trade measures and dispute settlement. A customs union can be defined as a merger of two or more customs territories into a single customs territory in which customs duties and other trade-restrictive measures are abolished for most trade between the merged territories. The territories, for their part, apply the same rights and measures in their trade with third parties. In preparation for a customs union, the eleventh meeting of the Council of Ministers in Cairo, Egypt, adopted a roadmap setting out the programmes and measures needed to be implemented before the creation of the Union. The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) is expected to be launched by twenty-one Member States, stretching from Tunisia to Eswatini. COMESA was established in December 1994 and replaced a preferential trade zone that had existed since 1981. Nine of the Member States formed a free trade area in 2000 (Djibouti, Egypt, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Sudan, Zambia and Zimbabwe), with Rwanda and Burundi joining the Free Trade Agreement in 2004, Comoros and Libya in 2006, Seychelles in 2009 and Tunisia and Somalia in 2018. U.S.
support for COMESA`s trade capacity building, provided primarily through USAID`s regional mission in East Africa and its Global Competitiveness Center for East and Central Africa in Kenya, has helped COMESA advance its internal free trade area, harmonize members` telecommunications policies, services and investment, and to strengthen trade relations with the United States under AGOA. Fourteen COMESA members are eligible for AGOA and nine are eligible for textile and apparel benefits. COMESA has a free trade area with 19 member states and launched a customs union in 2009. Unlike other African regional courts, the COMESA court continues to receive cases. However, due to a lack of resources, the Court is not able to hear all of its cases at specific times. Funding is granted to only one session of the Court of Justice per year, which has contributed significantly to the backlog of cases. The backlog of cases will certainly increase with the current increase in trade disputes in the region. [5] The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) was established by a treaty signed in Kampala, Uganda, on November 5, 1993. The agreement was ratified a year later in Lilongwe, Malawi, on 8 December 1994. The COMESA Treaty builds on an earlier preferential trade agreement and aims to create a common market in Eastern and Southern Africa. COMESA offers its members and partners a wide range of benefits, including: Under the treaties, the following bodies have decision-making powers: The following subordinate political bodies make recommendations on the above: The COMESA Secretariat, in cooperation with the African Union Commission (AUC), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the regional economic communities, launched a four-day training workshop for trainers for 12 countries[…] The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) is Africa`s largest regional economic organization, with 19 member States and a population of approximately 390 million.
COMESA supported the Zimbabwe National Trade Development and Promotion Organization (ZimTrade) with over €98,000 in equipment, training and technical interventions. Equipment, laptops, tablets, servers and others[…] Use these websites or write to us to learn more about all this. . Where the court of a Member State reviews the application or interpretation of the Treaty, it may ask the courts to give an opinion on the matter. Where the national court is a court before which no appeal or appeal is brought, the court is obliged to refer the matter to the comesa court. Domestic remedies must be exhausted before a person can refer the matter to comesa judge. The COMESA court has jurisdiction over actions brought by COMESA employees and third parties against COMESA or its institutions. It may also act as an arbitrary tribunal in all matters arising from a contract to which COMESA or any of its organs is a party.
The Court of Justice may also rule on any dispute between Member States which agree to bring the dispute before them. .