Date: 07/06/2009

Source: Common Market for Southern and Eastern Africa

Title: Zim: Mugabe: Welcome statement by the President of Zimbabwe at the thirteenth summit of Comesa

Your Majesty, King Mswati III of the Kingdom of Swaziland,
Your Excellency Mwai Kibaki, Chariman of the COMESA Authority and President of the Republic of Kenya,
Your Excellencies, heads of State and Government,
The First ladies,
Honourable Ministers,
The Secretary General of COMESA, Dr. Sindiso Ngwenya,
Your Excellencies Ambassadors and Members of the Diplomatic Corps,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen.
Comrades and Friends.

It gives me great pleasure and, indeed, a great sense of privilege for me to welcome you to Zimbabwe, and especially to Victoria falls, Zimbabwe's premier tourist capital. As many of you are aware, Victoria Falls is home to the natural wonder and world heritage site, the mighty Mosi-oa-Tunya, or the smoke that thunders.

We are grateful for the honor bestowed on Zimbabwe and her people by COMESA member States to be your hosts for the 13th Summit and the First Ladies Round Table. It is my sincere hope that since your arrival, you have experienced nothing but the warmth of the Zimbabwe welcome which we extend to all our visitors.

While our meeting will take place here at Victoria Falls, I wish to extend an open invitation to you to explore other tourist attractions that Zimbabwe has to offer, such as the Great Zimbabwe Ruins, Eastern Highlands, Matopos, Lake Kariba and the many National Parks which will spoil you for choice.

As I welcome you to the 13th Summit of Heads of State and Government, as well as to the 5th First ladies Round table, I would be remiss if I did not take this opportunity to congratulate and thank my brother, your Excellency Mwai Kibaki, President of the Republic of Kenya, on his successful chairing of the COMESA which, like many other Organisations, has faced various challenges.

However, it has also achieved many successes. We thank President Kibaki for his able leadership over the last two years.

Your Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

June 2009 is an important milestone for COMESA as it was set as the date for the launch of our much awaited Customs union. It is my belief that we will, this time, realize one of the fundamental targets that we set ourselves when we approved our Treaty way back in 1994. The Customs Union will enable us to grow beyond the free movement of goods and establish the foundations of an effective single market. This augurs well for us as it comes in the wake of the historic tripartite COMESA/EAC/SAD Summit that we held in Kampala in October last year and where we directed that not only should our three regional economic communities harmonize their programmes, but that they should also ultimately merge in line with our decision to establish one African Economic Community.

It would be a most admirable achievement if our region becomes one single market where production and marketing decisions at the shop level are based on commercial reasons and not on country boundaries. The single market will set an example in regional integration. I hope that the realization of this vision of the African Economic Community is not far off.

Mr Chairman,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Zimbabwe is also honoured to host the 5th COMESA First ladies' Round table, which has grown from strength to strength since its inception, and has become an important forum, through which social issues that affect our region are debated upon by the First Ladies. I understand that during their deliberations, they will review implementation of the various programmes they have initiated in the past and also look at new initiatives for the future. Madame First Ladies, on behalf of my colleagues, I wish to assure you that we shall give you all the support you need as you work towards implementation of your programmes.

Your Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I wish to take this occasion of our meeting to reiterate the need for our Organisation to continue to work towards the speedy implementation of our regional integration programmes and, in particular, core elements for the establishment of the common market, such as the free movement of factors of production, monetary harmonization, the eventual introduction of a single currency, and the establishment if a common investment area.

It is also important for the Secretariat to vigorously assist the remaining COMESA member States who are yet to participate in the Free Trade Area (FTA) COMESA Fund, to overcome any remaining impediments. The COMESA Fund is critical as it is the only way out of our current dependence on support from external partners who, in most cases, attach strings to any support they give to our development programmes. Let us contribute our own resources to the Fund which can enable us to finance regional infrastructure projects independently.

Your Majesty,
Your Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

May I also welcome our business community to these deliberations. I am advised that they have been meeting for the past two days to reflect on how best to do business in our region, and will now be presenting their recommendation to this Summit. This is indeed the kind of partnership and ownership that we have been looking for and I can assure them that we totally support their efforts and will do everything possible to assist them in implementing their recommendations. I hope that, being practically minded, as they are, the business people will have seen a number of business deals clinched during their meeting, all for the betterment of our region.

Mr Chairman,

Once again, I thank you for choosing Zimbabwe as host for the 13th COMESA Summit of Heads of State and Government. It is my earnest hope that important decisions on our journey towards regional integration shall be made in this tourist resort of Mosi-oa-Tunya. Siyabonga! Tatenda!

Mawuya, sethule, welcome!

I thank you.