President William Ruto has landed a new position in the Common Market for East and Central Africa (COMESA).
Ruto on Thursday, October 31 departed for Burundi to attend the 23rd Summit of COMESA Heads of State and Government in Bujumbura.
State House Spokesperson Hussein Mohammed in a statement said this year’s summit celebrates the 30th anniversary of COMESA, a vital trading bloc with a combined market of 640 million people and a GDP of $1 trillion.
During the summit, President Ruto was appointed as the new Vice Chair of the COMESA regional bloc, which was revealed by Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi.
PCS Mudavadi made the announcement in a statement while also revealing that Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye was appointed as the Chair.
He said that he joined President Ruto for deliberations at the Summit focused on progressing the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA).
New Chair & Vice Chair of the COMESA Regional bloc appointed
According to Musalia, TFTA is a transformative initiative connecting COMESA, the East African Community (EAC), and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) regions to strengthen intra-African trade and create vast economic opportunities for our communities.
“I warmly congratulate President Evariste Ndayishimiye of the Republic of Burundi and Dr. William Ruto, President of the Republic of Kenya, on their appointments as Chair and Vice Chair of the COMESA regional bloc at the 23rd COMESA Summit in Kiriri, Bujumbura, Burundi. I also extend my appreciation to the outgoing Chairman, President Hakainde of Zambia, for his invaluable contributions,” said Mudavadi.
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Mudavadi further highlighted that the outgoing chair’s dedication to enhancing regional economic cooperation has been a guiding force in COMESA’s integration efforts.
The COMESA Summit’s theme, “Accelerating Regional Integration through the Development of Regional Value Chains in Climate Resilient Agriculture, Mining, and Tourism,” underscores COMESA’s unwavering commitment to fostering sustainable, inclusive growth for all member states.
Ruto addresses Summit
President Ruto while speaking at the Summit revealed an ambitious vision to save member states financial resources as he called on the ratification of a pan-African payments and settlement system to enable and ease trade among the countries.
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The President highlighted that the African payment system can save Africa more than $5 billion (Ksh644 billion) annually in payment and foreign exchange transaction costs.
“Instead of our traders chasing currency exchanges, they can be comfortably chasing trade initiatives,” President Ruto stated.
The head of state also noted that there was a need to reduce transaction costs for goods and services to boost trade among COMESA States.
COMESA represents a substantial market for Kenya, which currently holds a 12.4% share of the regional market, second only to Egypt.
Between 2019 and 2023, Kenya’s exports to COMESA grew by 8.9%, highlighting the strong potential for regional trade and integration.
At the same summit, President Ruto congratulated COMESA on the coming into force of the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) last July.
He pointed out that this was a further step to harnessing the abundant potential of the African Continental Free Trade Area.
The head of state also seized the opportunity to mobilize support for Kenya’s candidacy for the African Union Commission (AUC) chairperson position Raila Odinga.
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