By BUUMBA CHIMBULU
PRESIDENT Hakainde Hichilema has taken up the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Chairmanship with a commitment of accelerating regional integration, trade and a call to create non-stop border posts in the region.
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Burundi President, Evariste Ndayishimiye, has taken up the vice-presidency of the authority.
In his acceptance speech, President Hichilema committed his team to accelerate COMESA regional expansion integrational programmes focused on joint ventures.
He said this in Lusaka yesterday at the 22nd COMESA Heads of States and Government Summit under the theme: “Economic Integration for a thriving COMESA anchored on Green Investment, Value Addition and Tourism.”
“We will also focus on exploiting opportunities for join investments for our people to make decisions to harmonise trade in the region, to harmonise our borders.
“I have argued before colleagues that we should not be proud of one stop borders. Why stop a truck at a Zambia/Zimbabwe border, Mozambique border and indeed another border? Let us just be borderless by creating non-stop borders. That is my Argument. Non-stop borders will reduce the cost of doing business,” he said. Commitment on job creation to provide green energy was also among the focus area Hichilema said his team would look at as this was important for all member states, especially that they were endowed with vast natural resources.
According to President Hichilema, this would be backed by creation of opportunities for youths in the region through promotion of value addition.
“We will carry on things that had worked and improve on those which did not work. We will work hard to make you proud. We are committed work or maybe run that path for economic growth,” he said.
On peace and stability, President Hichilema said it would be one of the top priorities for his team saying “instability anywhere is instability everywhere.”
He pointed out that peace instability was slowing down on the growth of the economy.
Handing over the leadership, outgoing COMESA Chairman, who is also Arab of Egypt President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, expressed confidence in Hichilema and his team to take the region forward.
President Sisi, who served for two years as Chairman, said was confident that the new authority would do everything in their power to build on the achievements on his chairmanship.
He also spoked about the need for peace and stability in the region while calling on all countries to support one another.
“As for peace and security, we are facing magnitudes of challenges that are bordering on the sustainable peace and security of our countries that requires us to connect to a number of parameters and support each other,” President Sisi said.
Meanwhile, Kenyan President William Ruto, congratulated President Hichilema and his team on his chairmanship for COMESA.
President Ruto also commended President Sisi for his visionary leadership exhibited over the last two years.
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