Egypt-COMESA Trade Volume Surges 19% to $3.9 Billion

The Minister of Industry and Trade Nevin Gamea revealed that the value of trade exchange between Egypt and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) reached about $3.9 billion last year, compared to about $3.2 billion in 2018, an increase of 19.1%,

Gamea also pointed to the rise in Egyptian exports to the COMESA countries to about $2.8 billion last year compared to about $2.3 Billion in 2018, an increase of 22.5%.

This came during the Minister’s speech during a virtual conference on Sunday with COMESA Secretary-General Chileshe Kapwepwe.

The meeting dealt with a number of issues and files on the agenda of the assembly during the current stage in addition to preparing for the activities of the next COMESA gathering, scheduled for next year.

The minister affirmed the political leadership and the government’s keenness to fulfill all its obligations towards all regional and international economic organizations in order to support Intra-African trade activities, pointing to the state’s support for COMESA in its efforts to confront the repercussions of the corona virus on the on the movement of goods and inpiduals between the countries of the organization.

Gamea referred to the importance of the online platform established by COMESA to facilitate the trade exchange between the countries, pointing out that Egypt informed the organization that entities from the Ministries of Trade, Health and the Single Purchase Authority are points of contact for the Egyptian government in the platform.

She added that the Egyptian government has adopted a package of economic measures to confront the negative effects of the pandemic on the Egyptian economy in general and the foreign trade sector in particular, noting that these measures include facilitation for immediate customs release of goods, in addition to measures to delay payment of tax dues.

Gamea referred to the importance of urging the 7 member states of the assembly that have not yet signed the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA), pointing out that Egypt was among the first countries to sign and ratify the agreement to liberalize intra-African trade movement.

The minister noted that the Egyptian Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (MSMEDA) will launch a platform “50 Million African Women Speak (50MAWS)” on November 18, in cooperation with COMESA, the East African Community (EAC) and the Economic Community of West African States(ECOWAS), noting that this platform will contribute to providing distinguished services for businesswomen in the countries of the African continent and activating their role within the system of sustainable development in the African economy.

On her part, Kapwepwe emphasized the important role of Egypt in supporting the COMESA and activating its role in promoting trade exchange and joint investments among the member states, noting that the Egyptian government fulfills all its obligations within the framework of its membership.

"Egypt is keen to activate the role of COMESA in managing the system of joint economic cooperation between the countries in order to achieve African economic unity," She added.

She added that the COMESA Extraordinary Ministerial Council meeting approved a number of precautionary measures to confront the repercussions of the spread of the COVID pandemic, that included precautionary measures on truck drivers and the establishment of an information platform to provide all data on commodity services and basic goods to activate the E-commerce system between the COMESA countries.

She pointed out that the coming period will witness the convening of a number of important activities for the assembly countries, including the meeting of the COMESA policy bodies on November 21-22 and the 41st meeting of the governmental committee on November 23-24, in addition to the 41st meeting of the Ministerial Council on November 26-27.

The Secretary-General noted the importance of participation of the Egyptian state in these meetings to discuss the current work plan and the future strategic plans of COMESA, considering that it is the current vice president of COMESA and the president of next year.

The meeting was attended by Tarek Shalaby, Assistant Minister for Foreign Trade, and Ahmed Maghawry, Head of the Egyptian Commercial Service (ECS).