Press Release

USAID/East Africa Signs $7.5 Million Integrated Partnership Assistance Agreement with Common Market for Eastern & Southern Africa

 | Friday, October 23, 2009

USAID/East Africa’s Acting Regional Director, Larry Meserve, and the Common Market for East and Southern Africa’s (COMESA) Secretary General, Sindiso Ngwenya, recently signed a $7.5 million Integrated Partnership Assistance Agreement to increase regional economic growth, integration, and stability in the COMESA Region (with total provided through 2012 not to exceed $30 million). COMESA is comprised of 19 countries with a population of 389 million. The USAID–COMESA partnership began in 1998 and has contributed to many successes including the implementation and expansion of the 14 member COMESA Free Trade Area and harmonization of sanitary and phytosanitary requirements for dairy and maize. The new Assistance Agreement supports COMESA’s work to forge "an integrated regional economic community achieving high standards of living for its people."

The COMESA region includes some of the poorest, most food insecure and conflict-ridden countries in Sub Saharan Africa. COMESA will work to reduce poverty by promoting business-friendly trade and investment policies; by enhancing regional infrastructure and reducing the time and cost of transit and transport in the region; by increasing the value and volume of regional trade in agricultural commodities; and by engaging in peace-building in conflict, or post-conflict affected cross-border areas.

Resources under this agreement will support initiatives that compliment core areas mentioned above and will allow COMESA to increase trade with the United States under the African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA) and contribute to the African Growth and Competiveness initiative and to President Obama’s new Global Hunger and Food Security Initiative.