COMESA:

The Legal/ Political Framework

The side effects of globalization and structural adjustment programs and the pressures to which third world countries have been exposed after the emergence of the European Union and other regional economic gatherings have prompted African attempts at unity; attempts made not only to face the challenges of a new international economic system but also to serve the interests of Africa's rising economies. Hence the emergence on the continent of such regional organizations as the ECOWAS, the SADC, the Preferential Trade Area For Eastern and Southern Africa and COMESA.

COMESA has 20 member states from northern, eastern and southern Africa all seeking to achieve regional integration by means of developing their trade, integrating their markets and optimizing the use of their natural and human resources for the common good of all their peoples.

The COMESA founding agreement was signed in Kampala, Uganda in November 1993, to enter into effect in December 1994. The legal framework, moreover, draws on various sources: The COMESA (the parent-organization) agreement, itself; the provisions and the mechanisms enshrined in the agreement of the Preferential Trade Organization; COMESA infant-organizations established by and stipulations set in the founding agreement.

The COMESA agreement covers 159 articles which provide for liberalizing trade (article 46), insuring preferential status for (156), and guaranteeing cooperation in the monetary field between the member states (46) as well as establishing a single tariff rate in accordance with which to deal with non-COMESA countries (45). Other provisions are also included which relate to decision-making, implementation, arbitration and penalties.

Objectives

The COMESA seeks:


To encourage the sustained growth and development of member states' production and marketing systems.

To encourage mutual economic development; and to assist member states in implementing wide-range policies and programs which ultimately seek to raise their peoples' standards of living.

To have a suitable climate created for local and foreign investments, which involves introducing and adapting to modern technology.

To promote peace, security and stability among member states with the ultimate purpose of bolstering economic development in the region.

To strengthen relations with the outside world by adopting united stances in respect of international issues.

To contribute to achieving the objectives set forth by the African Economic Group.

To achieve the above objectives, member states have committed themselves to:
- Equality and inter-dependence.
- Solidarity and collective self-reliance.
- Cooperation and integration,
- Non-aggression.
- The recognition and protection of human rights as set forth in the African Charter for Human and Peoples' Rights.
- Accountability, justice and popular participation in development.
- The recognition and observance of law.
- The promotion and sustenance of the democratic system of government.
- The maintenance, through good neighborliness, of regional peace and stability.
- The peaceful settlement of disputes.

Membership

Members of COMESA are either founding members (19 states) or provisional members (who are originally not party to PTA but who are eastern or southern African countries, nonetheless - 4 states).

Organizational structure

Article 7 of the founding agreement gives the organizational structure of the regional bodies as comprising an authority, a council, a court of justice, a governors-of-central bank board; inter-governmental, technical, and advisory committees, and a secretariat; all operating within the scope of reference set forth in the course of the agreement.

While a sub-regional organization, serving the interests of a number of African countries, to the east and south of the continent, COMESA also seeks to achieve the goals of the United Nations, the Organization of African Unity and the African Economic Group. It works, within the context of cooperation, for the common good of all of Africa.

Although COMESA stands a tool whereby to advance the development and to improve the economic conditions of its member states, there exist numerous challenges to impede its endeavors to that end; the most prominent of which being the lack of stability, security and peace in the region, international pressures and power policies.