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Al-Ahram Weekly 27 May - 2 June 1999 Issue No. 431 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 27 May - 2 June 1999 Issue No. 431
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Living Features Travel Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Ambassadors take the lead
by Gamal NkrumahThe creation of a new organisation, the COMESA Committee of Ambassadors Accredited to Egypt, comes at a very opportune moment. A host of African diplomats, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials and other dignitaries attended a ceremony in Cairo to mark the occasion. In his keynote address, Zambian Ambassador to Egypt Lt. Col. Patrick Kafumakache said, "The event which we are witnessing this evening is the brainchild of the COMESA heads of state who directed at one of their summits that COMESA committees of ambassadors should be established. I'm pleased to inform you that the Cairo Committee is the first one to be launched, barely a week before the COMESA heads of state summit to be held in Nairobi, Kenya."
Ambassador Kafumakache said that the Cairo COMESA Committee will be the focal point for collection and dissemination of information on COMESA to the Egyptian business community. The committee's mandate is to provide advisory opinions to the COMESA Secretariat on how it can further the organisation's social and economic objectives by looking at business opportunities, joint ventures, export trends and import demands in Egypt. The committee is also designed to promote the image and interests of COMESA to countries of accreditation in North Africa and the Middle East, especially Egypt.
"The launching of this committee is one of the steps toward realising the ultimate goal of creating the African Economic Community in the year 2025," the Zambian ambassador told his audience. Kafumakache referred to the blueprint for African economic integration spelled out in the 1981 Abuja Treaty, signed by African heads of state at an Organisation of African Unity (OAU) summit meeting in the Nigerian capital. "The Abuja Treaty establishing the African Economic Community accords priority action in the early stages of its implementation to strengthening the regional economic groupings. And strengthening COMESA is very vital if the goal of integrating African economies is to be realised."
Egypt is COMESA's newest member, having ratified the COMESA treaty in January this year, and this membership will help Egyptian businessmen get aquainted with one of Africa's largest regional economic groupings.
Ambassador Kafumakache gave a brief outline of COMESA's market potential. "In terms of market size, COMESA, with a population of over 380 million, has a combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of over $160 billion and an import bill of about $40 billion. All these figures are on an upward trend, signifying a growing market. It is against this backdrop that we attach such importance to COMESA."
Ambassador Faiza Abul-Naga of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs African department, speaking on behalf of Foreign Minister Amr Moussa, stressed the importance of creating the Cairo COMESA Committee at this juncture. "The establishment of the COMESA Committee of Ambassadors in Cairo and its inaugural meeting tonight is timely because it comes on the eve of the fourth COMESA summit, the last in the 20th century. The Nairobi summit is Egypt's first since its admission to the grouping in Kinshasa last June. With less than a year separating us from the 21st century and a third millennium, Africa should spare no effort to consolidate its intra-state economic relations, both bilaterally and through its sub-regional groupings, to implement the objectives of the Lagos Plan of Action and the Abuja Treaty. This will enable African countries to play an active role in the global arena instead of being further marginalised."
Ambassador Abul-Naga said that Egypt's admission to COMESA came at a time of critical historical significance when the country was in the midst of the second phase of its structural economic reform programme. Egypt is undergoing rapid economic change and African nations that are implementing similar economic reforms and deregulation programmes must pool their resources, exchange views, share experiences, and coordinate their policies, she stressed.
Egypt has taken care of all its financial obligations to the budget of COMESA for the years 1998 and 1999, to the COMESA Court of Justice for the years 1998 and 1999, and its share of costs for the COMESA headquarters in the Zambian capital Lusaka. It has also implemented a 90 per cent reduction in customs duties on goods imported from COMESA countries. It previously abolished non-tariff barriers and liberalised external trade during the first phase of its economic reform programme.
Egypt has joined all affiliate COMESA institutions, most recently the COMESA Metallurgical Industries Association, established in the Ugandan capital Kampala last year. Abul-Naga noted that not only is the Egyptian government interested in COMESA, but the Egyptian business community is also familiarising itself with the group's markets and wants to expand its interests in the region. "Egyptian businessmen are keen to cooperate with their counterparts in COMESA member states and to make use of the huge opportunities in the region. There are very encouraging signs of Egyptian businessmen easily interacting with their counterparts in COMESA countries."
Last October Egypt proposed a COMESA economic conference, with a private business component. Cairo will host the conference in February 2000. It will bring together businessmen from COMESA countries along with Western and Asian businessmen.
Topping the COMESA agenda for the year 2000 is the establishment of a zero tariff rate and a free trade zone by October 2000 as steps towards creating a customs union by the year 2004. The ultimate goal is it to create an African common market.
