COMESA (Common Market for Eastern & Southern Africa)

COMESA & MfDR

By

Anne Ndirangu

Head: Monitoring and Evaluation Unit

Recognizing the potential of regional

integration and cooperation as a tool

for development, Africa has formed

many integration groups

Angola

CFA Franc Zone

SACU

CMA

IGAD AMU

SADC

ECOWAS

CEMAC UEMOA

ECCAS

EAC

COMESA

WAMZ

Egypt

Libya

Algeria Morocco Mauritania Tunisia

Somalia Sudan

Djibouti

Eritrea

Ethiopia

DRC

Tanzania

Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Mauritius, Madagascar

Comoros Seychelles

Reunion (France) Swaziland Lesotho

Namibia South Africa

Botswana

Mozambique

Cape Verde Liberia

Gambia

Guinea

Nigeria

Ghana

Sierra Leone

CAR Cameroon Congo Equatorial Guinea Gabon

Sao Tome and Principe

Benin Burkina Faso Cote d’Ivore Guinea-Bissau Mali Niger Senegal Togo

IOC

ECCAS CEMAC

UEMOA

Some of Africa’s Integration and Cooperation Groups

ECCAS ECCAS

Kenya Uganda

Rwanda Burundi

Morocco Tunisia

GAFTA

CENSAD

COMESA – Common market for Eastern & Southern Africa

ECOWAS – Economic Community of West African States

CEMAC – Economic Community of Central African States

ECCAS – Economic Community of Central African States

IGAD – Inter-Governmental Authority on Development

UEMOA - West African Economic and Monetary Union

SADC – Southern Africa Development Community

GAFTA – Greater Arab Free Trade Area

SACU – Southern Africa Customs Union

CMA – Common Monetary Agreement

EAC – East African Community

AMU – Arab Maghreb Union IOC – Indian Ocean Community WAMZ – West African Monetary Zone CENSAD: Community of Sahel-Saharan States

AU-recognises only 8: ECOWAS, COMESA, ECCAS, SADC, IGAD, AMU, CEN-SAD & EAC.

COMESA Cont…

Membership: 19 countries (Burundi, Comoros, DRC, Djibouti, Egypt,

Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Libya, Malawi, Madagascar, Mauritius, Rwanda, Swaziland, Seychelles, Sudan, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe).

Was a Preferential Trade Area since 1981 COMESA established in 1994

Estimated population: 460 million

GDP (2013): US$ 639.4 Billion

One of the building blocs of the African Economic Community

under the Abuja Treaty and the AU Constitutive Act.

CORE INTEGRATION AGENDA

COMESA’s principal focus is promoting regional integration through trade development, investment promotion and sustainable utilization of natural resources for the mutual benefit of all the citizens of the region.

Consolidation of Internal Market (Free Trade Area)

Establishment and implementation of the Tripartite FTA

Implementation of the Customs Union (Launched in 2009)

Launch of the Common Market (2015….)

Operationalization of the Monetary Union road map (2018)

COMESA and the Tripartite Vision

COMESA is committed to pursuing its integration

agenda within the Tripartite Vision: working with

EAC, and SADC towards the goal of eventual

continental integration (African Economic

Community) as spelled by African Union in the

Abuja Treaty

COMESA and the Tripartite Vision

The Tripartite is an umbrella organization made up of

the East African Community (EAC), the Common

Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA)

and Southern African Development Community

(SADC).

The launching of the Tripartite negotiations in 2005

marked the roadmap towards the creation of the

single biggest FTA on the African continent.

The recent statistics (2013) show that the COMESA-

EAC-SADC Tripartite had a combined Gross

Domestic Product (GDP) of US$1.2 Trillion and a

population of 626 million people.

DRC

Tanzania

Malawi,

Zambia,

Zimbabwe

Mauritius,

Madagascar

Comoros

Seychelles

Swaziland Lesotho

Namibia

South Africa

Botswana

Mozambique

EAC

Tripartite Vision

SADC

COMESA

Kenya

Uganda

Rwanda

Burundi

Angola

From this… Egypt

Libya

Sudan

Djibouti

Eritrea

Ethiopia

Tripartite Vision

DRC

Tanzania

Malaw

i Mauritius

Seychelles

Swaziland

South Africa

Botswana Mozambique

Kenya

Rwanda

Angola

Egypt Libya

Eritrea

Namibia

Lesotho

Zimbabwe

Uganda

Ethiopia

Sudan

Djibouti

Zambia

Madagascar

Comoros

Burundi

(Somalia)

To this…

First FTA

Then a Customs

Union

and eventually a

Common Market

To achieve Results

• Transposition/Mainstreaming/Domestication MUST TAKE PLACE AT MS LEVEL

Transposition/Mainstreaming/Domestication

Ensuring that policy and administrative measures are put in place to implement regional agreements, decisions, protocols at national level. It involves giving force by a Member State to a Regional Commitment by passing appropriate Implementation, Application and Enforcement means by ensuring that policy and administrative measures are put in place to implement regional agreements, decisions, protocols at national level.

Legislative Basis for Council Decisions

The legislative mandate of Council is derived from the COMESA Treaty, particularly Article 10 on Regulations, Directives, Decisions, Recommendations and Opinions of Council which provides that: • The Council may, in accordance with the provisions of this Treaty, make

regulations, issue directives, take decisions, make recommendations or deliver opinions

• A Regulation shall be binding on all the Member States in its entirety

• A Directive shall be binding upon each Member State to which it is addressed as to the result to be achieved but not as to the means of achieving it

• A Decision shall be binding upon those to whom it is addressed

• A Recommendation and Opinion shall have no binding force.

Monitoring Transposition/Domestication

• Legal and regulatory framework level - the degree of actual transposition of commitments into the national legal and regulatory frameworks required for their implementation).

• Strategic Policy Level - the degree of integration of the commitments into the national policy frameworks, such as national plans, PRSP, sector strategies etc.

• Planning Level - the degree of concrete transposition into the national planning tools such as Public Investment Programme and Budgetary Frameworks.

• Operational Implementation Level - the existence of a monitoring mechanism, and the degree of actual implementation of the various commitments against an agreed roadmap and monitoring benchmarks, and

including corrective measures.

WHAT DO MS DOMESTICATE?

• Regional Policies, Protocols and Legal Instruments

Eg: under Transport we have Trade facilitation instruments

– One stop Border Posts (3)

– Yellow Card

– Carrier Licence

– ETC

No Country HRTC Axle Load Limit Max. Length

22.0m

CCL COMESA

Transit Plates

Overload Control

Certificate

MWG HFX %

Performance

1. Burundi Yes Yes No (18)* No No No No Yes 37.5 1. Comoros N/A. N/A. N/A. N/A. N/A. N/A. N/A. N/A. N/A, 1. Congo D R No Yes No (18)* No No No Yes Yes 37.5 1. Djibouti Yes Yes No(18) No No No No No 25.0 1. Egypt No Yes No(20) No No No Yes No - 1. Eritrea Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No 75.0 1. Ethiopia No Yes No(18)* Yes Yes No Yes Yes 62.5 1. Kenya Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes 87.5 1. Libya No Yes NA No No No No No - 1. Madagascar N/A. N/A. N/A. N/A. N/A. N/A. N/A. N/A. N/A, 1. Malawi Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes 87.5 1. Mauritius N/A. N/A. N/A. N/A. N/A. N/A. N/A. N/A. N/A, 1. Rwanda Yes Yes No (18)* No No No No Yes 37.5 1. Seychelles N/A. N/A. N/A. N/A. N/A. N/A. N/A. N/A. N/A, 1. Sudan Yes Yes No (18)* No No No Yes No 37.5 1. Swaziland No Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes 62.5 1. Uganda Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes 87.5 1. Zambia Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 87.5 1. Zimbabwe Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes 87.5 Countries to

Implement

16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16

Countries

Implementing

10 13 5 8 6 0 11 10

Percent

Implementation

62.5 81.3 31.3 50.0 43,8 0 56.3 62.5

MFDR MS (VERSUS REGIONAL LEVEL)

PUBLIC FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT – AT MS LEVEL

MACROECONOMIC CONVERGENCE –AT REGIONAL LEVEL

– Growth Percent – Gross National Savings (percent GDP) – Total Investment (Percent of GDP) – Inflation Consumer Prices Annual Average, Percent Change) – Overall Fiscal Balance Excluding Grants – International reserve holdings (Months of Imports of Goods and Services) – External Current Account Including Grants (% of GDP) – Monetary, fiscal and exchange rates policies

• 10 Member States did not meet the inflation target of less than 5% • 9 Member States did not meet the fiscal balance criteria in 2014 • 12 Member States missed external reserve threshold of 4 months

FREE MOVEMENT OF PERSONS-VISA RELAXATION

Ten Council Decisions/ Indicators to measure implementation of Protocol on Free Movement of Persons • Protocol on Visa Relaxation implemented • COMESA counters at International Airports • Bilateral Agreements • Grant of visas to COMESA citizens for up to 90 days on arrival • National consultations on signing of Free Movement Protocol • Member State to carry out audit of National Laws to ensure compliance with

COMESA Protocols • Establish National Monitoring Committee to monitor implementation of Protocol • Day passes for border crossing • Signature on Protocol of Free Movement • Visa Free Travel for COMESA Laser Passé holders under the COMESA Agreement on

Privileges and immunities