Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa

Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Marché commun de l'Afrique orientale et australe  (French) Mercado Comum da África Oriental e Austral  (Portuguese)
Anthem: People of Africa
Map of Africa indicating COMESA membership.   Current members   Former members
Secretariat		Lusaka, Zambia
Official languages		English French Portuguese
Type		Trade bloc
Membership		19 states
Leaders
-	Secretary General	Sindiso Ngwenya
Establishment		Agreement
-	Signed	5 November 1993
-	Ratified	8 December 1994
Website http://www.comesa.int/

The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa is a free trade area with nineteen member states stretching from Libya to Zimbabwe. COMESA was formed in December 1994, replacing a Preferential Trade Area which had existed since 1981. Nine of the member states formed a free trade area in 2000 (Djibouti, Egypt, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Sudan, Zambia and Zimbabwe), with Rwanda and Burundi joining the FTA in 2004, the Comoros and Libya in 2006, and Seychelles in 2009.

COMESA is one of the pillars of the African Economic Community.

In 2008, COMESA agreed to an expanded free-trade zone including members of two other African trade blocs, the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC). Comesa is also considering a common visa scheme to boost tourism.

Membership

Current

• Burundi (21 Dec 1981)
• Comoros (21 Dec 1981)
• Democratic Republic of the Congo (21 Dec 1981)
• Djibouti (21 Dec 1981)
• Egypt (6 Jan 1999)
• Eritrea (1994)
• Ethiopia (21 Dec 1981)
• Kenya (21 Dec 1981)
• Libya (3 June 2005, at the 10th COMESA summit)
• Madagascar (21 Dec 1981)
• Malawi (21 Dec 1981)
• Mauritius (21 Dec 1981)
• Rwanda (21 Dec 1981)
• Seychelles (2001)
• Sudan (21 Dec 1981)
• Swaziland (21 Dec 1981)
• Uganda (21 Dec 1981)
• Zambia (21 Dec 1981)
• Zimbabwe (21 Dec 1981)

Former

• Lesotho (left in 1997)
• Mozambique (left in 1997)
• Tanzania (left September 2, 2000)
• Namibia (left May 2, 2004)
• Angola (Suspended itself in 2007)

Organs

The following organs have decision-making power according to the treaties

• The COMESA Authority, composes of Heads of States or Government.
• The COMESA Council of Ministers
• The COMESA Court of Justice
• The Committee of Governors of Central Banks

The following lower policy organs make recommendations to the above:

• The Inter-governmental Committee
• The Twelve Technical Committees
• The Consultative Committee of the Business Community and other Interest Groups
• The COMESA Secretariat.

Other institutions created to promote development are:

• The PTA Bank (Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank) in Nairobi, Kenya
• The COMESA Clearing House in Harare, Zimbabwe
• The COMESA Association of Commercial Banks in Harare, Zimbabwe
• The COMESA Leather Institute in Ethiopia
• The COMESA Re-Insurance Company (ZEP-RE)in Nairobi, Kenya
• The Regional Investment Agency in Cairo, Egypt

Comparison with other regional blocs

African Economic Community
Pillars regional blocs (REC)1	Area (km²)	Population	GDP (PPP) ($US)		Member states
			in millions	per capita
AEC	29,910,442	853,520,010	2,053,706	2,406	54
ECOWAS	5,112,903	300,000,000	703,279	1,748	15
ECCAS	6,667,421	121,245,958	175,928	1,451	11
SADC	9,882,959	233,944,179	737,335	3,152	15
EAC	1,817,945	124,858,568	104,239	1,065	5
COMESA	12,873,957	406,102,471	735,599	1,811	20
IGAD	5,233,604	187,969,775	225,049	1,197	7
Other African blocs	Area (km²)	Population	GDP (PPP) ($US)		Member states
			in millions	per capita
CEMAC 2	3,020,142	34,970,529	85,136	2,435	6
SACU 2	2,693,418	51,055,878	541,433	10,605	5
UEMOA 2	3,505,375	80,865,222	101,640	1,257	8
UMA 3	5,782,140	84,185,073	491,276	5,836	5
GAFTA 4	5,876,960	166,259,603	635,450	3,822	5
1 The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) is a signatory to the AEC, but not participating in any bloc yet 2 Economic bloc inside a pillar REC 3 Proposed for pillar REC, but objecting participation 4 Non-African members of GAFTA are excluded from figures   smallest value among the blocs compared   largest value among the blocs compared During 2004. Source: CIA World Factbook 2005, IMF WEO Database

See also

African Union
This article is part of the series: Politics and government of the African Union
Institutions Casablanca Group Union of African States Organisation of African Unity African Economic Community African Unification Front
Executive Assembly Chairperson Commission Chairperson Conference and Events Peace & Sec. Pol. Affairs Infra. & Energy Soc. Affairs HR, Sci., & Tech. Trade and Industry Rural Econ. & Agri. Economic Legal Counsel Executive Council Rep. Committee
Legislature Pan-African Parliament President Bureau Secretariat List of members Permanent Committees Rural Econ., Agri., Resources, Eviron. Monetary & Financial Trade, Customs, & Immigration Cooperation, IR, & Conflict Transport, Industry, Communications,   Energy, Science, & Tech. Health, Labour, & Social Educ., Culture, Tourism, & HR Gender, Family, Youth, Disabilities Justice & Rights Rules, Privileges, & Discipline
Judiciary Sirte Declaration Constitutive Act of the AU Law Charter on Rights Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights Court of Justice Court on Human and Peoples' Rights List of judges
Advisory bodies Peace and Security Council Economic, Social, and Cultural Council Specialised Technical Committees Rural Econ., Agri. Monetary & Financial Trade, Customs, and Immigration Industry, Sci. & Tech., Energy... Transport, Comm., Tourism Health, Labor, Social Edu., Culture, & Human Resources
Financial bodies AEC Pillars (Abuja Treaty) CEN-SAD COMESA EAC ECCAS/CEEAC CEMAC ECOWAS UEMOA WAMZ IGAD SADC SACU AMU/UMA African Central Bank African Monetary Fund African Investment Bank New Partnership for Africa's Development African Peer Review Mechanism
Decentralised bodies Agencies of the AU
Related topics Elections Enlargement Foreign relations
Other countries Atlas Politics portal

• Trade bloc
• East African Community (EAC)
• Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS)
• Southern African Development Community (SADC)
• Southern African Customs Union (SACU)
• Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)
• Arab Maghreb Union (UMA)
• Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD)
• Greater Arab Free Trade Area (GAFTA)
• Yellow card system - motor insurance scheme of COMESA

External links

• COMESA website
• Information on COMESA history
• Agreement establishing COMESA