The biggest annual event in the COMESA calendar is set to take place this month in Ethiopia when Heads of State and Governments of the 19 Member bloc of countries hold their 18th meeting. The COMESA Summit will convene on 30th and 31st March 2015 at the Africa Union Commission Headquarters in Addis Ababa.

The Summit which is also referred to as the Authority is the supreme policy organ of the COMESA and meets once a year. It is responsible for the general policy direction and control of the performance of the executive functions of the organization. During the Addis Summit, the Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia H.E. Hailemariam Desalegn will take over the reins of COMESA Chairmanship from the incumbent H.E. Joseph Kabila Kabange, President of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The theme for this year’s Summit is “Inclusive and sustainable industrialization”. This theme was chosen through consultations between the COMESA Secretariat and the incoming Chair of the Authority the Prime Minister of Ethiopia. The main thrust of the theme is to address industrialization in a holistic way. This is by focusing on all factors that influence and impact on industrialization such as infrastructure.

Preceding the Summit will be the Council of Ministers meeting. This forum is the second in the hierarchy of COMESA policy organs. Its mandate is to monitor COMESA activities, including supervision of the Secretariat. This forum also holds the mandate of recommending policy direction and development and its decisions are binding to all Member States.

The curtain raiser of the policy organs fora will be the 34th Meeting of the Administrative and Budgetary Committee which kicks off on 20 March 2015. This will be followed by the Intergovernmental Committee (IC), the COMESA Business Council (CBC) forum, the Council of Ministers, EPA Council of Ministers and the 14th Meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs.

The Intergovernmental Committee will bring together Permanent or Principal Secretaries designated by each of the 19 Member States. It is responsible for the development of programmes and action plans in all fields of co-operation except in the finance and monetary sector. Owing to its heavy workload, this meeting will run for three days beginning from 22 to 24 March 2015.

The IC will review progress reports on Trade and Customs, Infrastructure (Airspace Integration; River Nile Projects; and Construction of the Border Markets), report on financing COMESA Programmes from COMESA Institutions and Co-operating Partners, Progress Report on the Implementation of the COMESA Micro Small and Medium Enterprises Strategy, Co-operation among Member States in the Manufacturing of Essential Drugs, Draft COMESA Industrial Policy, Draft COMESA Monitoring and Evaluation Policy Directive.

The COMESA Business Council which is the voice of the private sector in COMESA will host a two day open forum whose key theme is Combating Illicit Trade - Taking Action for Industrial Competitiveness. This meeting will be co-hosted with the Ethiopia National Chamber of Commerce.