The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa will hold a round table meeting with the leading regional agricultural trade association. The Eastern and Southern Africa Dairy Association (ESADA) is the leading trade associations representing the regional dairy industry. The objects of the meeting are as follows; Enable leaders of Regional Industry/Trade Associations to have a better understanding of COMESA's regional integration agenda and programmes in particular, the Customs Union; trade; common investment area; agriculture and private sector development.
1. Enable COMESA to have a better appreciation of the industry associations in cotton and textiles (ACTIF); coffee (EAFCA); dairy (ESADA); and grains (EAGC) in terms of the structure, achievements and strategic approaches of these Associations.
2. Facilitate identification of common issues between COMESA and the Industry Associations and define priority approaches and actions to dealing with these issues particularly participation in COMESA decision-making structures in support of regional integration and interface with COMESA institutions.
3. Identify the role that Industry/Trade Associations can play in supporting the regional agenda of industrialization, regional linkages and regional value addition.
4. Explore options to raise resources for Industry Associations from the diverse range of COMESA initiatives and those of Cooperating Partners that COMESA collaborates with so as to build capacity for the Associations to participate effectively in COMESA's regional integration agenda and to broaden their resource base in order to serve their members more effectively and manage their affairs on a sustainable basis.
COMESA is Africa's single largest economic block with an estimated population of nearly 400 million people translating into a large potential market. As a result of the Free Trade Area (FTA) where 13 out of the 19 COMESA countries are now participating, intra-COMESA trade has increased from an estimated US$2.1 million in 2001 to the current levels of US$6.8 billion and continues to grow. Members of COMESA are, Burundi, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The member states of COMESA in setting up COMESA, set out a vision to establish ‘a fully integrated, internationally competitive regional economic community; a community within which there is economic prosperity as evidenced by high standards of living for it's people, political and social stability and peace, and a community within which goods, services, capital and labour are free to move across national borders.' COMESA seeks to consolidate the gains made through the FTA and realize the vision of closer integration by launching the Customs Union by December 2008.
Industry Associations:- A Catalyst in Regional Integration
One of COMESA's key areas of intervention has been promotion of regional agriculture trade and value addition. COMESA's activities to increase regional agricultural trade are supported by among other specialized programmes, the Regional Agricultural Trade Expansion Support (RATES) program. RATES is a US Government supported program through USAID/East-Africa whose objective is to create an open and transparent trade environment that is conducive to the conduct of free agricultural trade within COMESA. RATES works with COMESA member States to address policy, institutional, regulatory, business information and trade facilitation constraints to regional agricultural trade. A unique feature of COMESA's work through RATES is strong private sector involvement and interface.
RATES is a commodity-focused program concentrating on an integrated value chain approach in four commodity areas: specialty coffee; maize and pulses; cotton and textiles; and dairy. Through policy advocacy, lobbying, public relations, and marketing, RATES is expanding private sector contributions to regional trade initiatives in East and Southern Africa (ESA). The project does this successfully because it provides, through its personnel, highly-valued commodity knowledge and organizational expertise. By bringing people who share a common cause together in associations, RATES has begun to create regional capacity with an impact on trade expansion not only within the region but beyond the region as well.
One of the key achievements of RATES has been facilitating the creation of regional Industry/Trade Associations in the commodity areas that RATES activities have focussed on over the last six years that the project has been in existence. The Industry Associations are:
1. The Eastern and Southern African Dairy Association (ESADA).
2. The African Cotton and Textile Industries Federation (ACTIF).
3. The Eastern African Fine Coffees Association (EAFCA).
4. The Eastern African Grain Council (EAGC).
Although operating in their specialized spheres of interest and influence, the Industry Associations have the following commonalities:
- A regional identity;
- A common vision and agenda across the specific industry;
- A sound strategic framework and approach to guide their operations;
- A move away from a narrow national to a broader regional and global perspective and approach as a result of partnerships and alliances that have been forged with key partners within and outside Africa;
- Increased market access and presence through joint marketing and creation of an African brand and identity through major Conferences and Exhibitions and participation in relevant industry-specific global events;
- A common regional voice in trade negotiations at the regional and multilateral levels across COMESA; EAC; SADC; WTO; AGOA; EU-EPAs and others;
- Existence of Coordinating Secretariats with sound institutional structures as well as operating and financial systems enabling them to attract and effectively manage potential donor funding; and
- Growing membership across regional blocks (COMESA, EAC and SADC) based on benefits and value addition rather than on geographical and political considerations alone.
The effective participation of the private sector in policy dialogue at the national and regional level has in the past been inhibited by the fact that the private sector itself has not been sufficiently organized to be a meaningful partner both to COMESA, EAC, SADC and national governments. This has limited the private sector's role in shaping debate and providing input in the formulation of regional policies and strategies as they relate to regional agricultural trade and investment and also in multilateral negotiations whether these are under WTO, EU-EPAs, AGOA and others.
The emergence of Industry Associations with a regional focus signifies the start of the process of getting industry players in the individual countries to start to work together within a common regional vision. Already, through these associations, networks have been established leading to partnerships, strategic alliances and regional linkages, thereby providing building blocks for regional value addition and creation of sustainable regional value chains. These associations are now providing input and shaping the regional integration agenda for trade and investment within COMESA and EAC in a more organized and systematic manner than was the case before.
The COMESA Secretariat has concluded Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) with all the four Industry Associations. The MOUs provide a firm basis for issue-based collaboration between the industry associations and COMESA and positions the Associations, to play a pro-active role in shaping regional as well as national policies and strategies as they relate to regional agricultural trade, creation of regional industry linkages and promotion of value addition.
Thus far and despite the existence of the MOUs, the regional Industry Associations have not been integrated into the COMESA decision structures at regional level at the technical, policy and political levels. A strong partnership is therefore required between the COMESA Secretariat and the Industry Associations to build viable and sustainable public-private partnerships in addressing key and pertinent issues to promoting trade and investment and regional integration generally.
Key Issues and Expected Outcomes
Among the key issues and expected outcomes of the Roundtable are the following among others;
1. Forging a sustainable framework and working partnership in support of regional integration between the COMESA Secretariat and Industry Associations so as to create a business enabling environment.
2. Integrating the Industry Associations into the COMESA decision-making structures at the technical, policy and political levels so that formulation and implementation of regional policies and strategies can be informed by the experiences and expectations of the private sector on the ground.
3. Integrating Industry Associations into existing and planned COMESA programmes so that the experiences of the Associations can bring to bear on the design of new programmes and the overall COMESA programme benefits from increased private sector input and involvement.
4. Positioning the Industry Associations to benefit from COMESA's resource base through funding, technical assistance and generally access to the pool of donor resources at COMESA's disposal.
5. Definition of specific strategies to inform development of industry linkages, regional value addition and investment mobilization to support the region's industrialization and creation of jobs and sustainable livelihoods.
6. Agreement on mutual strategies to build institutional and human capacities to sustain regional integration and industrialization efforts.
7. Definition of strategies for innovation, research and development, technology development, transfer and sustainability so as to maintain competitiveness in line with the changing global environment and trends.
8. Identification of other areas of mutual interest between COMESA and the Industry Associations which support and further consolidate current relationships.
