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Secretary-General of Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), Erastus Mwencha, said yesterday that cooperation between COMESA and China has great potential.

 

"The cooperation between COMESA and China is not new ... but nearly consolidated, a historical one with great potential in the future," Mwencha said at a news conference after the bloc's 11th summit concluded in Djibouti on Thursday.

 

Mwencha said there had already been some cooperation programs between COMESA and China.

 

"I'd be very sincere to just assure you that we in COMESA already initiated a number of measures to develop cooperation between COMESA and China," he told journalists.

 

Mwencha said that he visited China last year as the head of a COMESA delegation. In China, the COMESA delegation discussed and agreed on many things with the Chinese side.

 

"Some of them (cooperation issues) are already taking place. China is already a member of our PTA Bank (the Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank) and we are grateful for that. Some of our institutions, like the African Trade Insurance Agency, have signed cooperation agreements with China," Mwencha noted.

 

Mwencha said COMESA had already been implementing a number of projects with China especially in the areas of information technology.

 

COMESA is now doing projects with Chinese information technology in some member states including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Kenya and Zambia.

 

The secretary-general listed infrastructure, road, IT and railway as priority in the future cooperation between COMESA and China.

 

"There is an universal call to continue work with China and we see this as a new opportunity because China is one country that has been with us for a long time," Mwencha said.

 

"China has been with us since de-colonization, supporting countries such as Zambia to develop a road of railway between Zambia and Dar es Salam. China assisted many of our countries in assorted infrastructures, building studies and conference facilities, investing in textiles and so forth," he added.

 

At the summit COMESA leaders promised to further integrate by expanding the Free Trade Area and preparing well for the Customs Union.

 

Comprising 20 African states with a population of about 385 million, COMESA launched in 2000 the first African Free Trade Area, which currently is made of 11 members. The biggest economic bloc in Africa is scheduled to launch a Customs Union in 2008.

 

(Xinhua News Agency November 17, 2006)