Published by the government of Zimbabwe
Augustine Moyo
9 November 2008
Harare — THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) Governor Dr Gideon Gono has advised Government to host the forthcoming 13th Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) summit of Heads of State and Government scheduled to be held in Victoria Falls in Harare for "logistical" reasons.
Hosting the summit in Victoria Falls was meant to provide an opportunity for Zimbabwe to market Victoria Falls as one of its tourist attractions to the visiting heads of state.
"Hosting more than 18 Heads of State is no easy task. I personally feel that it is prudent to move the summit to Harare so that the whole planning process of the event is flexible and cost-effective.
"Still the same, the Government is going to come back to the central bank for the funding of the very same event. It is going to be expensive to host this summit and that is why I feel the best venue will be Harare," said Dr Gono.
The Ministry of Industry and International Trade has announced that the Comesa summit is going to be held in Victoria Falls.
The summit is expected to strengthen intra-regional trade.
Speaking at a news conference on the preparedness of the country to host the 13th Comesa summit last month, permanent secretary in the ministry Retired Colonel Christian Katsande said the Comesa business forum, which will run concurrently with the policy organs meetings, will help in transforming the local industry.
Retired Colonel Katsande added that the Comesa summit would coincide with the launch of the Comesa customs union, which will provide a level playing field among trading partners.
The Comesa summit, which runs from November 25 to December 8, will be held under the theme "Consolidating Regional Economic Integration Through Value Addition, Trade and Food Security".
It will coincide with the launch of the Comesa customs union on December 8.
The launch of the customs union will be a key milestone in the development of the Comesa region and will give greater impetus to enhancing intra-regional trade
The summit will also deal with various other issues, such as administrative and budgetary affairs, the seating of the Comesa inter-governmental committee, the hosting of the Comesa business forum, meeting of the council of ministers, a Comesa golf tournament, the foreign affairs ministers' meeting and the first ladies' roundtable.
More than 1 500 delegates from 19 Comesa member states and associate regional and multilateral organisations, such as the Southern African Development Community (Sadc), African Union (AU), World Bank, European Union (EU), International Monetary Fund (IMF), Commonwealth and the United Nations are expected to attend.
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