Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa

Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA)
  • السوق المشتركة لشرق وجنوب أفريقيا (Arabic)
  • Marché commun de l'Afrique orientale et australe (French)
  • Mercado Comum da África Oriental e Austral (Portuguese)
Coat of arms of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa
Coat of arms
Anthem: "People of Africa"[1]
Map of Africa indicating COMESA membership.
  Current members
  Former members 
SecretariatZambia Lusaka, Zambia
Official languages
TypeTrade bloc
Membership21 member states
Leaders
• Secretary General
Chileshe Mpundu Kapwepwe
EstablishmentAgreement
• Signed
5 November 1993
• Ratified
8 December 1994

The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) is a regional economic community in Africa with twenty-one member states stretching from Tunisia to Eswatini. 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, Seychelles in 2009 and Tunisia and Somalia in 2018.

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.[2]

  1. ^ "Comesaweb – Comesa anthem". Comesa.int. Archived from the original on 22 August 2011. Retrieved 2 September 2011.
  2. ^ Writer, eTN Staff (27 April 2010). "Apple files patent for iTravel - eTurboNews (eTN)". eturbonews.com.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia · View on Wikipedia

Developed by Nelliwinne