New Customs union Grows

The COMESA tripartite summit of Heads of State and Government has decided to form an enlarged Free Trade Area to include the Southern African Development Community, the East African Economic Community and COMESA.

In his speech, Zambian President Rupiah Banda has re-affirmed this decision and has encouraged the COMESA Secretariat to ensure that all future programmes and policies of the new Customs Union take the summit's decision into consideration.

And the launch of the Customs Union comes after Heads of State and Government from SADC, East Africa Economic Community (EAC), and COMESA first met in October 2008 in Uganda to address the challenges of the overlapping membership by some member countries.