President Hakainde Hichilema attended the 23rd COMESA Heads of State and Government Summit in Bujumbura and handed over the Chairmanship of the COMESA Authority to President Évariste Ndayishimiye of Burundi. The summit, held under the theme, “Accelerating Regional Integration through the Development of Regional Value Chains in Climate Resilient Agriculture, Mining, and Tourism,” saw a renewed commitment to fostering regional economic integration among member states.
President Hichilema highlighted the importance of increasing intra-COMESA trade, which currently stands at a low 12%. He emphasized that Zambia, as outgoing Chair, remains committed to strengthening the regional bloc by supporting agricultural research and productivity initiatives. Notably, under Zambia’s leadership, COMESA’s total export value to the global market saw a significant increase of 210%, from $100 billion in 2020 to $219 billion in 2023.
On the sidelines of the summit, President Hichilema held bilateral meetings with President William Ruto of Kenya and HE Taye Atske Selassie of Ethiopia. These discussions focused on shared interests and strengthening regional cooperation. President Hichilema also took the opportunity to introduce Dr. Samuel Maimbo, Zambia’s candidate for the African Development Bank presidency, expressing gratitude for the support from African leaders. In reciprocity, Zambia pledged its support for former Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga as the AU Commission Chairperson.
Returning from the summit, President Hichilema reaffirmed Zambia’s commitment to regional integration as part of the nation’s economic strategy. “Our goal is to make Zambia a land-linked nation, leveraging our strategic position to enhance trade and connectivity,” he stated.
With Burundi now chairing COMESA, and Kenya serving as deputy, Zambia will continue to play a pivotal role as an outgoing member of the COMESA Bureau, supporting the goals and initiatives of the regional organization.
Talk is cheap; let’s see the talk being walked. Meanwhile, our economy is haemorrhaging under crippling loadshedding – with no end in sight.
Agreed all talk
In all the years nothing much has come of this Comesa
He called on COMESA member States to emulate Zambia’s PPP initiative in road construction. Unfortunately the Zambian version of PPP is a criminal scheme that no sane government would emulate. It took one John Pombe Magufuli to change Tanzania’s economic trajectory and it has now continued to score well above Zambia where puppetry and inside dealing is rife
Time to focus on our country and economy.
Charity begins at home.We have alot of problems at home to sort before we start
Helping comesa.