Egypt to chair 21st COMESA Summit

The summit this year aims to rally the 21 COMESA member states to safeguard and advance their regional integration agenda using digital platforms to facilitate doing business and enhance their resilience in the face of economic repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic, Gamea said.

Gamea said that President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi will take over the chair of COMESA from the president of Madagascar, adding that he will also launch the COMESA Medium-Term Strategic Plan 2021- 2025.

The 21st summit will also review several key reports including economic integration priority issues and the status of the COVID-19 pandemic in the region, the implementation status of regional integration programs, as well as reports on the current COMESA round and the COMESA Business Council, she said.

Gamea stated that Egypt was one of the key economic forces in COMESA, having the largest share of intra-COMESA trade in 2020, with a total of $2.7 billion.