President Dr Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera is scheduled to attend the 22nd Summit Meeting of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Authority of Heads of State and Government in Lusaka, Zambia, on Wednesday this week.

The theme for this year's summit is "Economic Integration for a thriving COMESA, anchored on green investment, value addition and tourism".

A statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs says Chakwera will depart Kamuzu International Airport at 5:30am and return at 7pm.

The statement adds that President Chakwera will use the opportunity at the meeting to champion a regional approach in climate mitigation in view of the negative impact that climate-related disasters continue to pose to the COMESA integration agenda.

"Additionally, the meeting will address the vulnerability of the region to other exogenous shocks such as the Covid-19 pandemic. The summit meeting will, in fact, be the first purely face-to-face engagement that is being held post the Covid-19 pandemic," reads the statement in part.

It further states that the meeting will offer an opportunity for the region to demonstrate unity and solidarity in the face of the challenges that individual Member States have experienced over the past few years.