Comesa to debate customs union issues

ALAN PEAT THE TWELFTH summit of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) is due to be held in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, on May 17 and 18. According to Business in Africa Online, the summit’s agenda will deal with issues such as Comesa’s progress towards a customs union in 2008, the workability of the Comesa fund, developments on the establishment of the Comesa monetary institute, and the regional payment system. Other issues will be infrastructure linkages within the region, political situation of the region, agriculture and food security, and the EPA trade agreements with the European Union (EU) and the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) with the US. As the host, Kenyan president Mwai Kibaki is expected to be elected chairman of the Comesa authority – and succeed Ismail Omar Guelleh of Djibouti. Although 13 member countries have acceded to the free trade agreement (FTA), six other Comesa member states are yet to meet the criteria.