VP Alupo calls for prompt action on COMESA resolutions

 Uganda’s Vice President Jessica Alupo has called for “expeditious action” on the resolutions of the just-concluded 23rd summit of the Heads of State and Government of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) in Bujumbura, Burundi.

“Expeditious action upon the summit resolutions by all the COMESA member states will go a long way in solving a number of Africa’s known bottlenecks,” she said in a statement she posted on her X handle on Thursday, October 31.

According to the COMESA website, a notable announcement from the summit was the launch of a program aiming to connect 100 million people to clean energy within the next seven years, reflecting the bloc’s commitment to sustainable development.

Alupo also used her X post to congratulate the government and the people of Burundi upon successfully hosting the summit.“I congratulate His Excellency Evariste Ndayishimiye, President of Burundi, upon assuming the chairmanship of COMESA today (Thursday),” she added.

Ndayishimiye succeeded Zambia’s President Hakainde Hichilema, who formally handed over COMESA’s instruments of power. He will now lead the 21-member trade bloc for the next year.The summit ran under the theme, “Accelerating Regional Integration through the Development of Regional Value Chains in Climate-Resilient Agriculture, Mining, and Tourism.”

According to the COMESA website, the summit set the agenda for advancing collaboration across the aforementioned key sectors.“The gathering also saw the inauguration of a new COMESA Bureau, with Burundi as chair, Kenya as vice chair, and Zambia as rapporteur,” it said.

Several Heads of State attended and addressed the summit, including Presidents Felix Tshisekedi (DR Congo) and Andry Nirina Rajoelina (Madagascar). 

The next COMESA summit is scheduled to take place in Kenya in 2025.COMESA as defined by its Treaty was established in December 1994 “as an organisation of free independent sovereign states which have agreed to co-operate in developing their natural and human resources for the good of all their people”.

As such, it has a wide-ranging series of objectives which necessarily include in its priorities the promotion of peace and security in the region.It replaced the former Preferential Trade Area, which had existed from the earlier days of 1981.