Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa

Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa
Marché commun de l'Afrique orientale et australe
Mercado Comum da África Oriental e Austral Seat of Secretariat Lusaka, Zambia Official languages English, Frenchand PortugueseType Trade bloc Membership 20 member states Leaders - Secretary General Erastus J.O. Mwencha Establishment - Signed 5 November 1993 - Ratified 8 December 1994 Website
http://www.comesa.int/

The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, is a preferential trading area with twenty member states stretching from Libya to Zimbabwe. COMESA 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, with Rwanda and Burundi joining the FTA in 2004 and the Comoros and Libya in 2006.

COMESA is one of the pillars of the African Economic Community. The Secretary-General of COMESA is Erastus J.O. Mwencha

1 Membership
2 Institutions
3 Comparison with other regional blocs
4 See also
5 External links

Membership

Current members:

Angola (21 Dec 1981)
Burundi (21 Dec 1981)
Comoros (21 Dec 1981)
Democratic Republic of the Congo (21 Dec 1981)
Djibouti (21 Dec 1981)
Egypt (6 Jan 1999)
Eritrea (1994)
Ethiopia (21 Dec 1981)
Kenya (21 Dec 1981)
Libya (3 June 2005) (at the 10th Summit of COMESA)
Madagascar (21 Dec 1981)
Malawi (21 Dec 1981)
Mauritius (21 Dec 1981)
Rwanda (21 Dec 1981)
Seychelles (2001)
Sudan (21 Dec 1981)
Swaziland (21 Dec 1981)
Uganda (21 Dec 1981)
Zambia (21 Dec 1981)
Zimbabwe (21 Dec 1981)

Former members:

Lesotho (quit in 1997)
Mozambique (quit in 1997)
Tanzania (quit on September 2, 2000)
Namibia (quit in May 2, 2004)

Institutions

The following organs have decision-making power according to the treaties

The COMESA Authority, composes of Heads of States or Government.
The COMESA Council of Ministers
The COMESA Court of Justice
The Committee of Governors of Central Banks

The following organs make recommendations to the institutions above:

The Inter-governmental Committee
The Twelve Technical Committees
The Consultative Committee of the Business Community and other Interest Groups
The COMESA Secretariat. The Secretary General is appointed by the Authority for a duration of five years.

Other institutions created to promote development are:

The COMESA Trade and Development Bank in Nairobi, Kenya
The COMESA Clearing House in Harare, Zimbabwe
The COMESA Association of Commercial Banks in Harare, Zimbabwe
The COMESA Leather Institute in Ethiopia
The COMESA Re-Insurance Company (ZEP-RE)in Nairobi, Kenya

Comparison with other regional blocs

African Economic Community
Pillars
regional
blocs (REC) Area (km²) Population GDP (PPP) ($US) Member
states in millions per capita AEC29,910,442 853,520,010 2,053,706 2,406 53 ECOWAS5,112,903 251,646,263 342,519 1,361 15 ECCAS6,667,421 121,245,958 175,928 1,451 11 SADC9,882,959 233,944,179 737,335 3,152 15 EAC1,817,945 124,858,568 104,239 1,065 5 COMESA 12,873,957 406,102,471 735,599 1,811 20 IGAD5,233,604 187,969,775 225,049 1,197 7 Western
Sahara1 266,000 273,008 ? ? N/A 2 Other
African
blocs Area (km²) Population GDP (PPP) ($US) Member
states in millions per capita CEMAC3 3,020,142 34,970,529 85,136 2,435 6 SACU3 2,693,418 51,055,878 541,433 10,605 5 UEMOA3 3,505,375 80,865,222 101,640 1,257 8 UMA4 5,782,140 84,185,073 491,276 5,836 5 GAFTA5 5,876,960 166,259,603 635,450 3,822 5 1 The Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic(SADR) is a
signatory to the AEC, but not participating in any bloc yet

2 Majority under military occupation by Morocco; some
territory administered by the SADR
3 Economic bloc inside a pillar REC
4 Proposed for pillar REC, but objecting participation
5 Non-African members of GAFTA are excluded from figures
smallest value among the blocs compared largest value among the blocs compared During 2004. Source: CIA World Factbook 2005, IMF WEO Database

This box: view • talk • edit Most active regional blocs
(as of 2004, except as noted) Regional bloc1 Area Population GDP ($US) Member
states1 km² sq miin millions (PPP) in millions (nominal) per capita (PPP) per capita (nominal) AU29,797,500 11,504,879 897,548,804 1,515,000 1,131,850 1,896 1,261 53 ASEAN(2007 est.) 4,497,493 1,736,000 566,500,000 3,115,480 1,173,000 5,541 2,041 10 CACM422,614 163,172 37,816,598 159,536 84,792 4,219 2,242 5 CARICOM462,344 178,512 14,565,083 64,219 24,020 4,409 1,649 (14+1)3 CCASG / GCC2,285,844 882,569 35,869,438 536,223 717,800 14,949 20,011 6 CEFTA298,148 115,116 28,929,682 222,041 122,001 7,675 4,217 (7+1)3 EU(2007 est.) 4,324,782 1,669,808 497,000,000 14,953,000 16,574,000 28,213 33,482 27 EurAsEC20,789,100 8,026,720 208,067,618 1,689,137 1,125,528 8,118 5,409 6 EFTA(2007 est.) 529,600 204,480 12,660,623 567,500 743,300 44,828 60,000 4 GAFTA9,421,946 3,637,834 280,727,416 1,341,298 N/A 4,778 N/A (16+1)3 GUAM810,506 312,938 63,764,600 456,173 106,469 7,154 1,670 4 NAFTA(2007 est.) 21,783,850 8,410,792 445,000,000 15,857,000 15,723,000 35,491 35,564 3 PARTA528,151 203,920 7,810,905 23,074 N/A 2,954 N/A (12+2)3 SAARC5,136,740 1,983,306 1,467,255,669 4,074,031 N/A 2,777 N/A 8 Unasur / Unasul17,339,153 6,694,684 370,158,470 2,868,430 N/A 7,749 N/A 12 UN and countries
for reference2 Area Population GDP ($US) Units4 km² sq miin millions (PPP) in millions (nominal) per capita (PPP) per capita (nominal) UN133,178,011 51,420,318 6,411,682,270 55,167,630 48,245,198 8,604 7,524 192 Brazil(2007 est.) 8,514,877 3,287,612 183,888,841 1,804,000 1,067,706 10,073 6,842 27 Canada(2007 est.) 9,984,670 3,855,103 33,000,000 1,274,000 1,406,000 38,200 42,738 13 India(2007 est.) 3,287,590 1,269,346 1,120,000,000 4,726,000 1,089,000 4,182 1,004 35 Japan(2007 est.) 377,873 145,898 127,433,494 4,346,000 4,346,000 33,800 38,341 47 PR China5 (2007 est.) 9,596,960 3,705,407 1,321,851,888 7,043,000 3,420,000 5,300 2,800 33 Russia(2007 est.) 17,075,200 6,592,772 142,500,000 2,076,000 1,286,000 14,600 9,056 83 USA(2007 est.) 9,826,630 3,794,083 302,000,000 13,543,000 13,794,700 43,500 45,594 50 Source: CIA World Factbook 2005, IMFWEO Database, IMF nominal figures for 2006.[citation needed] Legend smallest value among the blocs compared largest value among the blocs compared

Footnotes
1 Including data only for full and most active members.
2 Including the largest five countries by area, population (not #4), GDP (PPP) (not #5), and GDP (nominal) (not #3 or #5).
3 Including non-sovereign autonomous areas of other states.
4 Members or administrative divisions.
5 Data for the People's Republic of China does not include Hong Kong, Macau, or the independent Republic of China (Taiwan) (over which PRC claims sovereignty).