COMESA Summit Ends With Determination for Free Trade Area ����Leaders from the 21 countries of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) agreed to intensify their efforts to realize a free trade area in the region by October next year in Nairobi, May 25. ����With the theme of "Countdown to the COMESA Free Trade Area", the two-day COMESA Summit, which closed Tuesday, called on all member states to adhere to the provisions of the COMESA Treaty for zero tariff and the elimination of non-tariff barriers and other obstacles to trade by October 31, 2000. ����The summit attended by presidents from 12 countries -- Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Namibia, Tanzania, Sudan Malawi, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Burundi and Djibouti as well as senior officials from other COMESA member states. ����In its final communique, the summit endorsed that all member states should adopt the harmonized commodity description and coding system for customs and statistics purposes. It also decided to form a coordinating body of experts from central banks and ministries of finance to oversee the implementation of the policy measures on economic policy coordinations and harmonization toward the eventual goal of a monetary union. ����The summit endorsed the council decision regarding the need to establish an Africa Guarantee Facility to cover political risk in the regional and international trade, and to continue work on a fast payment facility to allow exporters to be paid with certainty and speed. ����It agreed that member states, particularly those with growing cross-border trade, investment and tourism, should introduce limited currency convertibility in order to reduce transaction costs, facilitate the flow of trade and investment and promote the use of regional currencies. ����The COMESA secretariat was directed by the summit to study the issue of bilateral agreements to ensure that they are all consistent with the objectives of COMESA, and to work out the modalities for establishing a regional investment agency to promote the region as a common investment area. Economicnews 1999-05-26 Page7 Full Story in Chinese