CEO of all institutions of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) will converge in Port Louis, Mauritius from 15 to 16 April 2024 to raise awareness on their operations and benefits to the Member States.
The Secretary General of COMESA, Chileshe Mpundu Kapwepwe, will lead the Awareness Forum whose participants will be drawn from a cross section of the public and private sector stakeholders. Chief executives of the 12 COMESA institutions will lead their respective teams to the Forum which is the first of its kind.
Objectives of the forum
The objective of the Forum is to increase awareness and visibility of the activities of COMESA and its Institutions in Mauritius. It will provide an opportunity for stakeholders to dialogue on various key sectors that the govt of Mauritius is promoting. It will encourage real economic growth and development in the blue, digital and green economy and the services sector in line with its 2030 vision to be a high-income country.
Key Issues
Issues to be discussed include how to benefit from the 400m credit facility given by the World Bank to COMESA for infrastructure development covering renewal energy, ICT and transport. They will also discuss the plan to help the government reduce carbon emissions by 30 percent and to produce 35% of electricity from renewable sources by 2030.
The Forum will provide a multi-stakeholder platform for the candid exchange of views among public and private sector stakeholders. In addition, COMESA Secretariat and the Indian Ocean Commission will sign a Memorandum of Understanding to deepen their cooperation.
COMESA institutions
The participating COMESA Institutions are the African Trade and Investment Development Insurance Agency (ATIDI), the COMESA Business Council (CBC), the COMESA Clearing House (CCH), the COMESA Competition Commission (CCC), the Africa Leather and Leather Products Institute (ALLPI), the COMESA Monetary Institute (CMI) and the COMESA Regional Investment Agency (RIA). Others are the COMESA Federation of Women in Business (COMFWB), the COMESA Re-Insurance Company (ZEP-RE), the Trade and Development Bank (TDB), the Alliance for Commodity Trade in Eastern and Southern Africa (ACTESA) and the Regional Association of Energy Regulators for Eastern and Southern Africa (REARESA).
National stakeholders
In Mauritius, participants will be drawn from the association of private sector organizations, Export Promotion Agencies, multilateral development banks, the youth, small and medium-sized enterprises and the media.
