African countries should strive to export finished goods instead of primary products if they are to earn more from trade, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has said.

Speaking at the close of the 12th Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) summit in Kenya on Wednesday, Mugabe lamented that developed countries use their economic power to set prices for goods produced elsewhere.

"The commodities we produce are not priced by us, their prices are fixed by others... the great ones. We remain traders of primary products but the moment we add value to our products, more earnings come our way," he said.

The president said small countries should own and control their resources as well as their political domain.

"We should move away from undertaking programs and projects whose very existence depends solely on outside funding. Let external resources complement our own efforts and not be their driving force," said Mugabe.

He said he was confident COMESA would achieve this through economic integration. The region has made commendable progress towards the establishment of a more open trading environment.

Mugabe invited his counterparts to next year's COMESA summit which Zimbabwe will host in Harare. This followed his election as vice chairman of the trading bloc at the summit.

COMESA is moving from a free trade area into a Customs Union by next year, characterized by deeper integration and merger of customs territories into a single customs territory.

Source: Xinhua