President Ruto Urges COMESA Nations to Boost Intra-Regional Trade and Drop Barriers

President William Ruto has urged member states of the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA) to significantly increase trade volumes within the region and dismantle non-tariff barriers.

Speaking at the 25th COMESA summit of heads of state and government in Harare, Zimbabwe, Ruto highlighted that despite a combined Gross Domestic Product exceeding one trillion US dollars and a population of nearly 700 million people, member countries still trade more with external nations than among themselves.

During the launch of the COMESA medium-term strategic plan for 2026-2030 and the 2025 annual report, Ruto emphasized that the strategic plan commits to growing the value of intra-COMESA trade annually. The target is to raise its share of total trade to 15 percent by 2030 by removing trade obstacles, deepening trade liberalization, and digitalizing regional commerce.

He criticized the historical trend where African nations export raw materials and import finished products, thereby surrendering jobs and wealth. The new framework aims to build climate-resilient value chains in agriculture, industry, and mining to process local minerals and agricultural produce internally.

Furthermore, Ruto stressed that the private sector must take center stage because businesses, rather than governments, drive trade. He called on member states to apply the COMESA Free Trade Area fully, adopt the COMESA Business Visa, and connect national payment systems to ease cross-border financial transactions.

Read more about the summit details on the Daily Monitor.