The Common Market for Eastern and Southern (COMESA) has approved accession of Somalia to the regional bloc’s treaty.
The Horn of Africa nation was one of the signatories of Preferential Trade Area (now Comesa) during the era of late Mohamed Siyad Barre but had been without influential since the 1990s when the country descended into civil war that lasted for two decades.
Ministers of Justice and Attorneys-Generals from the bloc have adopted an agreement for the accession of Somalia to the regional bloc’s treaty.
The adoption of the Agreement for Accession of Somalia to the COMESA Treaty was done during a one-day meeting of ministers held in Lusaka, the Zambian capital, and paves the way for the country’s admission to the regional bloc at the next Summit this year.
The adoption of the agreement follows the successful conclusion of negotiations between Somalia and the COMESA Bureau of the Council of Ministers that took place early this week in the Zambian capital, according to a statement from the COMESA secretariat.
The admission of Somalia will increase the number of members of Africa’s largest trading bloc to 20.
Last year, Somali president Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo announced his country’s readiness to join Comesa’s financial, technical, semi-autonomous and autonomous institutions.
In a June 8, 2016 letter, Somalia made a case for its admission arguing that it was a full member of the Preferential Trade Area (PTA), the precursor to COMESA, which changed its name in 1994.
COMESA launched its Free Trade Area in 2000 and has been functioning successfully.
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