The Common Market Research

Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa is Africas largestregional economic cooperation organization. Its predecessorestablished in December1981, named the eastern southern Africanpreferential Trade Area. In November1993, the Summit of PreferentialTrade Area adopted the Common Market Treaty. In December1994,the Summit formally ratified the Treaty. The COMESA Secretariat was inLusaka, Zambia. COMESA has19member states. The total population isabout400million, gross domestic product more than360billion U.S.dollars. COMESA provides a major market area for internal and externaltrade.COMESA had established a complete set of partner institutions andprograms, which were the foundation for regional economiccooperation and development. First, COMESA set up the CommonMarket Summit, the Council of Ministers, the IntergovernmentalCommittee, Technical Committee, the Secretariat, Trade andDevelopment Bank, the Court of Common Market clearing banks andother institutions, to ensure the normal operation. Second, it establishedfree trade zone and customs union for member states to eliminate tariffsand other trade barriers, implemented the a common external tariffamong Member States to promote the free movement of commodity,goods and people. Third, it established a common investment area toform a stable region and a good investment environment and promotecross-border investment and protect investment. It enhancedCOMESAs attractiveness and competitiveness, and made it adestination for foreign direct investment, and in which encourageddomestic investment. Forth, it Strengthened cooperation in the field ofinfrastructure to promot effective flow of staff, goods and services, savecosts and help improve the competitiveness, and achieved some success. Fifth, COMESA strengthened the cooperation with regionalintegration organizations. It plays an irreplaceable role in African region.Abovel all, COMESA and its predecessor the Preferential Trade Area,had achieved remarkable success in trade, customs, transport,development funds and technical cooperation and other fields. Inindustrial and agricultural production sector had also made aremarkable progress.This paper is divided into four parts: The first part introduces theformation and development of COMESA, by analyzing the base ofintegration, discusses the social and historical conditions of itsestablishment. Then introduces how to change from the PreferentialTrade Area to COMESA. The final details are the organization ofCOMESA. The second part discusses three measures of COMESApromoting trade and investment integration: free trade area, customsunion and common investment area. Through above measures,COMESA promotes regional integration and economic development.The third section deals with the cooperation of COMESA in infrastructure,through this cooperation it has effectively promoted the efficientmovement of the staff, goods and services, saves costs and helpsimprove the competitiveness. Part IV discusses the COMESA and theAfrican integration. First discusses the contact and conflict betweenCOMESA and the Southern African Development Community, followedby is the listing of its advantage of COMESA and the role in Africa, andsummarizes the lessons. Finally is conclusion, which is the achievements,problems and prospects of COMESA.