The intra-trade among partner states of the Common Market for the Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) is still weak compared to the business potential the region has, an official has said.

Thierry Mutombo Kalonji, the director of investment promotion and private sector development at Comesa was speaking during a two-day sanitary and phytosanitary strategy workshop in Kigali recently.

He said there is a huge business potential among Comesa member states in terms of intra-trade which has not yet been fully exploited by the partner states.

“The intra-trade in the Comesa region is still weak compared to what we have in terms of potential for example the trade component of the agriculture commodities represents only 30% of the entire volume of exports within the Comesa region and yet agriculture offers a lot of potential. We can indeed do better than we are doing,” Mutombo said.

He added that Comesa partner states are also facing the challenge of lack of harmonized policies and regulations which, he says, affects intra-trade among them.

He said that in order to address such challenges, Comesa has put in place a number of trade facilitation instruments, mainly the sanitary and phytosanitary that are expected to facilitate movement of agriculture commodities across the Comesa countries.

“The rules and regulations in Comesa partner states are different but similar in substance. This is why we need to sit together, discuss and agree on commonalities that can unify us more.”

He added that intra-trade among Comesa is at a very low level and needs to be increased so as to enable the region become more vibrant economically and to develop in all aspects.

“The reason why we are here is to come up with various measures towards the promotion of trade facilitation in Comesa and to agree with all the countries within the bloc on what direction we should take,” Mutombo said.

He noted that partner states are planning to put in place a five-year development plan (2016-2020) that will go a long way in enabling them achieve their intra-trade goals.

“The rules and regulations in Comesa partner states are different but similar in substance. This is why we need to sit together, discuss and agree on commonalities that can unify us more. It is the major aim of this workshop,” Mutombo added.

He encouraged policymakers, in the Comesa region, to always consult technocrats before making any decision because they are the ones who are on the ground and who clearly know what is needed to foster intra-trade in the region.

“We are also trying to make sure that whatever we are doing in the area of technical regulations is harmonized among ourselves as members of Comesa so that if we speak the same language and head in the same direction, I think we will be able to move at the same pace in terms of doing business among ourselves,” he added.

Comesa’s vision is to be a fully integrated, internationally competitive regional economic bloc with high standards of living for all its people ready to merge into an African Economic Community.