After an absence of nearly 20 years, Egypt took over the presidency of the COMESA Organization in a major event hosted by the Administrative Capital.
The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) is one of the most important regional economic integration gatherings on the African continent with 21 member states (Egypt, Burundi, Comoros, DR Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, the Kingdom of Eswatini, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Sudan, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe).
This commercial gathering is important for Egypt and opens up great prospects for Cairo in the coming period, to increase exports and deepen cooperation in various fields, including investment fields.
The new administrative capital hosted the 21st Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Summit, with the participation of representatives of African member states, whether with actual or virtual participation via video conference technology, in addition to the Secretary- General of the COMESA and a number of heads of African economic gatherings.
The summit is held under the slogan “Building Resilience Through Strategic Digital Economic Integration," with the aim of encouraging using digital economy tools to facilitate doing business within the COMESA gathering and enhancing the member states' ability to confront the negative repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic on their economies, according to NevinGamea the Egyptian Minister of Trade and Industry, who confirmed that The President of Egypt, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, will take over the chair of the COMESA
Egypt is one of the most important economic forces in COMESA, as Egyptian exports reached 2.7 billion dollars during 2020.
COMESA is also a promising market for Egyptian exports, which accounted for 20% of exports within the bloc, worth 2 billion dollars; while imports from COMESA amounted to 700 million dollars.
The most important items of Egyptian exports to the COMESA countries are "plastics, salt, sulfur, lime, cement, ceramic products, machinery, and electrical appliances, mill products, paper, sugar, soap, Essential oils and oils. Aromatics, and perfumes", according to the Ministry of trade.
Egypt formulated a comprehensive national vision for Egypt's presidency of the COMESA , which includes a number of activities aimed at deepening economic integration between Egypt and the members of the bloc to enhance the Egyptian presence in Africa in general and the COMESA countries in particular.
The Egyptian government has identified a number of proposals and discussed them with the concerned authorities to be implemented during Egypt's presidency of the COMESA, including the field of industry, the field of trade and customs, and share Egypt's experiences with member states in the field of small and medium enterprises and services trade, as well as the field of infrastructure.
