The 9th COMESA Annual Research Forum kicked off on Monday in Cairo, in light of Egypt’s presidency of the current session of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA). The event will last until 15 September.
Minister of Trade and Industry Ahmed Samir stated that Egypt is making great efforts to promote joint African action and achieve continental economic integration during its presidency of COMESA.
Samir noted that Egypt has already begun to take serious steps in this regard, including working on the establishment of an exhibition for intra-COMESA trade, and preparing an initiative for African industrial integration to exploit resources available in countries of the continent in establishing industrial foundations, as well as encouraging intra-African trade.
On behalf of the minister, Ibrahim El-Sigini, Assistant Minister for Economic Affairs, said that the forum supports efforts and measures taken by member states to accelerate pace of economic recovery in light of challenges posed by COVID-19 pandemic, and the current international economic challenges.
He noted that the forum is an international forum that includes policy makers, academic institutions, think tanks and the private sector to discuss the latest developments related to regional integration. This is considered an embodiment of joint African action to achieve regional integration on the continent, where the forum is one of the initiatives for building research and analytical capacities in the field of economic and trade policies with the aim of deepening integration in the COMESA region.
The minister pointed out that the forum, which is being held this year under the slogan “Enhancing business competitiveness and resilience to boost intra-COMESA trade”, highlights the importance of trade and competitiveness as one of the most important ways to enhance economies of the grouping countries to face challenges on regional and global arena, as they are among one of paths of sustainable economic recovery for member states, especially from repercussions of Covid-19 crisis, the Russian-Ukrainian crisis and the resulting negative effects on food security on the continent and other social, economic and political challenges that all countries of the world are currently facing.
