PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa has challenged businesses across the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) to forge partnerships that boost intra-regional trade, investment and job creation as member states seek to build an integrated regional market.
Officially opening the COMESA Business Forum in Harare Tuesday, Mnangagwa said the private sector should take the lead in identifying practical solutions to trade barriers and strengthening economic cooperation among member states.
Zimbabwe will this Thursday assume the chairmanship of COMESA for the 2026-2027 term, taking over from Kenya.
“I challenge the Business Forum, therefore, to hold the front and the bold dialogue that will scale up intra-regional trade.
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“Identify practical solutions and forge partnerships that allow businesses to produce, invest, trade and put jobs across all our markets.
“Together, we have a duty to build an integrated common market that delivers shared prosperity for all,” Mnangagwa said.
He urged participants to use the forum to establish business networks and synergies that would advance the bloc’s integration agenda.
The President also called on private sector players to move away from exporting raw commodities towards value addition, beneficiation and manufacturing to maximise economic returns from the region’s natural resources.
“Private sector players are aiming to move decisively from the export of commodities towards value addition, beneficiation and manufacturing,” he said.
Mnangagwa stressed the need for investments in member states to complement one another rather than operate as isolated national projects.
He said cross-border investments and regional value chains were critical to linking economies and expanding commercial opportunities across the bloc.
“Importantly, investment in our respective productions should not be developed as isolated national projects. They must connect our economies through mutually beneficial cross investments and regional value chains,” he added.
The forum, he added, should create direct commercial linkages between producers, buyers, investors and manufacturers while helping micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) access wider markets.
“This forum must in the end connect buyers with producers, investors with bankable projects, manufacturers with regional suppliers and micro SMEs with distributors leading to new markets as well as increased intra-COMESA trade,” Mnangagwa said.
He said the ultimate measure of the region’s integration efforts should be their contribution to economic growth and a higher quality of life for citizens across member states.
Read the original article on New Zimbabwe.
