This archive report was first published on 19 July 2020.
On July 19, 2020, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) launched an online portal to support regional trade during the COVID-19 pandemic. The portal was developed in response to a directive issued by the COMESA Council of Ministers in May 2020.
The online platform will enable Member States to share information on the availability of products and their potential to produce and supply various goods. It will also connect buyers to suppliers of essential goods, promoting regional intra-COMESA trade.
COMESA Secretary General, Ms. Chileshe Kapwepwe, launched the prototype platform during a virtual meeting with representatives of Member States. The focal points will coordinate with the private sector to populate the platform with information on essential supplies, boosting local production and addressing shortages in supply from outside the region.
Ms. Kapwepwe emphasized that the platform will help small-scale cross-border traders and SMEs access market information and link producers, sellers, and buyers. She noted that measures implemented by Member States, such as closing borders to prevent the spread of the pandemic, have severely impacted cross-border trade.
COMESA is a regional economic community established in 1994, bringing together 21 African Member States with a population of 560 million people into a cooperative framework for sustainable economic growth and prosperity through regional integration.
“Over the mid-to long-term, disruption in supply chains could lead to filling of the gap by regional producers and hence the need to strengthen and fully implement the Free Trade Area,” Ms. Kapwepwe said.
