COMESA has developed an online portal to be used by Member States to exchange information on availability of essential products within the region. This is in response to a directive by the COMESA Council of Ministers in May 2020 that asked the regional block to develop a platform to support intra-trade among the Member States during the COVID-19 pandemic period.
“The platform will enable Member States to share information on availability of products and their potential to produce and supply all different types of goods. It will connect buyers to suppliers of essential goods thereby promoting and fostering regional intra-COMESA trade”, said Ms. Chileshe Kapwepwe, Secretary General of COMESA, during the launch of the prototype platform to representatives of member States.
According to the COMESA Secretariat, the focal points in Member States will coordinate with the private sector in populating the platform with information on essential supplies. This is expected to boost local production and address shortages in supply from outside the region.
As part of the roll out and implementation of the platform, the Secretariat conducted a training programme considering that multiple stakeholder use is needed to make it versatile, functional and sustainable.
COMESA Secretary General said the platform will also help small-scale cross-border traders and SMEs to have access to market information and linking producers, sellers and buyers.
She noted that measures being implemented by Member States such as closing borders to prevent the spread of the pandemic are slowing down economic activity and have severely impacted cross border trade.
She said the implementation of the Digital Trade Facilitation programme and other instruments and the liberalization of services remained core to strengthening the stability of the COMESA region against external shocks.
“Over the mid-to long-term, disruption in supply chains could lead to filling of the gap by regional producers and hence the need to strengthen and fully implement the Free Trade Area,” said Ms. Chileshe Kapwepwe.
She added: “The successful implementation of the online platform will no doubt be an important step towards realization of COMESA Digital Free Trade Area initiatives.”
COMESA is a regional economic community established in 1994. It brings together 21 African Member States with a population of 560 million people into a cooperative framework for sustainable economic growth and prosperity through regional integration.
COMESA’s strategy in combating Covid-19 include the need to strengthen openness, coordination and collective approach by Member States in facilitating movement of goods and services amidst restrictive measures and safeguarding the existing trading arrangements and avoid erosion of gains already made as far as liberalization of trade and investments.
Whilst the focus on movement of goods within the COMESA region has been on essential goods as related to food, beverages and health, COMESA has also been pushing for the movement of all goods for livelihood and sustaining economies of the Member states.
COMESA issued Regional Guidelines, which were adopted by Council of Ministers on 14th May that were aimed at containing the spread of COVID-19 through transport across borders; facilitating the implementation of transport related national COVID-19 measures in cross-border transportation; facilitating flow of essential goods such as fuel, food and medicines; limiting unnecessary and mass movement of passengers across borders; and harmonizing and coordinating transport-related national COVID-19 policies, regulations and response measures.
The Brookings Institute projects that Africa will record a loss of 2.1% points or more in GDP growth if the novel coronavirus takes hold. Other estimates predict that Africa’s economies could record a loss of between $90 billion and $200 billion this year (2020). According to a recent publication by the African Union, the pandemic could cause up to 20 million job losses.
