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Heads of state from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) countries kicked off their 11th annual summit Wednesday in the coastal town of Djibouti, the capital of the Republic of Djibouti in eastern Africa.

Djibouti President and incoming COMESA Chairman Ismael Omar Guelleh urged COMESA member countries to adhere to unity and cooperation in the integration process.

"During the year of our chairmanship, Djibouti's focus shall be to further maximize elements of cooperation, institutional refinement and increased membership involvement essential to our growth and prosperity as an organization," Guelleh said at the opening of the summit.

"This should entail greater openness in our trade and in the movement of people, the forging of stronger ties between our private sectors, and expanded cooperation with our international development partners," he said.

The heads of state summit is being held in the recently built Kempinski hotel in Djibouti, the first five-star hotel in the nation. At the two-day summit, the leaders are expected to review COMESA programs and map the way forward for regional integration.

Guelleh said that COMESA nations have realized the bulk of the initial goal, namely, the attainment by Oct. 31 2000, of a Free Trade Area and the appreciable efforts that have been made toward the establishment of a Customs Union.

"COMESA is at a historic point with the opportunity to become the foremost African entity. Therefore, through streamlining policies, procedures and priorities of its institutions, COMESA could operate smoothly and efficiently, with little overlap of interests or duplication of efforts," Gulleh said.

"Ultimately, our aims and objectives converge in a common desire for economic growth, self-sufficiency and sustainable development. In that long journey, COMESA is the critical first step," he concluded. "We must strive hard to make it a viable entity within a reasonable timeframe, through unity of purpose, and through an enhanced movement of people, goods and capital."

Outgoing COMESA Chairman, President of Rwanda Paul Kagame told his colleagues at the meeting to draw lessons from the accomplishments and address hard questions that face COMESA in the future.

"We in COMESA are committed to improving lives of our people through regional integration. The pace of our implementation raises critical questions that require time-bound answers, commitment and firm actions," Kagame said.

At the opening of the summit with the theme "deepening regional integration through custom unions," COMESA Secretary General Erasturs Mwencha said he is optimistic about the future of COMESA.

"Challenges are many ... but I hope that together, we can go further step with integration," Mwencha said.

The establishment of the customs union is an important stage of COMESA's integration process before it eventually becomes an economic community. The customs union had been planned to take off in December 2004 when COMESA marked its 10th anniversary.

The plan, however, has been delayed due to concern by member countries over decreased revenue, as many COMESA economies are small and heavily dependent on import duties. The last summit in Kigali, Rwanda, decided that the customs union will be set up by December 2008.

At this year's summit, the leaders are also expected to launch a fund to compensate the loss in integration process and boost regional development.

Some COMESA member states have continuously expressed concerns over revenue losses and other problems in the integration process and COMESA officials said the to be launched fund will address their concerns and further boost integration.

COMESA is the largest African economic bloc, grouping Angola, Burundi, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Swaziland, Sudan, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

It has a total population of about 374 million and a total GDP of US$203 billion.

In the year 2000, COMESA launched the first ever African Free Trade Area. It is scheduled to launch a Customs Union in 2008 and a full Monetary Union involving the use of a common currency issued by a common Central Bank in 2025.

(Xinhua News Agency November 16, 2006)