Los directivos de COMESA y el ITC se reúnen para debatir acerca del desarrollo y el apoyo del comercio regional (en)

ITC Executive Director, Ms. Patricia Francis, and Secretary General of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), Mr. Sindiso Ngwenya met yesterday to discuss ITC /COMESA cooperation, particularly focusing on PACT II as the major regional programme for building trade capacity in the three regions of COMESA, the Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS).

The two parties noted the status of programme implementation to date. They stressed the importance of consolidating bilateral cooperation and partnership in order to increase the capacities of the regions’ private sector, trade support institutions and the regional Secretariats in order to more effectively support trade and business development within their regional integration agendas. They agreed to accelerate the implementation of PACT II, be more innovative and flexible in engaging the private sector and ensure concrete results with a real impact on the citizens of the regions.

At the meeting, Ms. Francis outlined how the parties in attendance had a shared vision of what needs to be accomplished and that they understand the roles and responsibilities to contribute to that end goal and how we must work intelligently towards that end.

Mr. Ngwenya expressed a view that there is a need for a new paradigm shift and a new business model in order for our Trade Related Technical Assistance (TRTA) cooperation to ensure real results. He added that in order to affect positively the lives of people on the ground, we should work more energetically with the private sector.

More information about Pact II can be found on this website.