Investment Minister Hassan Khattib headed for Burundi on Thursday to take part in the 23rd summit of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), to kick off Friday, on behalf of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi.
This year’s summit is held under the theme of “Accelerating Regional Integration through the Development of Regional Value Chains in Climate Resilient Agriculture, Mining, and Tourism.“
Khattib will expound Egypt’s stance towards a number of issues related to enhancing inter-trade among COMESA members as well as updates of economic integration between Egypt and COMESA countries.
Its agenda will include a review of the state of COMESA integration, the priority issues on programs and activities and reports from the Council of Ministers and the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and a Declaration from the COMESA Business forum.
COMESA was formed in December 1994, replacing a Preferential Trade Area which had existed since 1981. It includes 21 countries, namely Burundi, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Sudan, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
COMESA is one of the pillars of the African Economic Community.
