This 2021-2025 Medium Term Strategic Plan (MTSP) is a multisectoral document outlining COMESA’s strategic vision in pursuit of achieving and accelerating the regional integration goals while seeking to improve socio-economic conditions through economic growth. The 2021-2025 MTSP is aligned to the global and continental development agenda and contributes to the priorities of the AU Agenda 2063 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The key objectives of COMESA’s integration agenda are (i) the establishment of an environment in which there is a flow of goods, services, capital and people through trade and transport facilitation and simplification and harmonization of documents and procedures; (ii) the lowering of the cost of conducting business through removal of trade barriers and establishing trade liberalization; (iii) the facilitation of policy coordination and cooperation in the productive sectors; and (iv) the enablement of effective participation of women and youth in the regional development processes through addressing the gender and social impediments. To this end, the Plan puts forward 4 strategic pillars namely (1) market integration to eliminate barriers to mobility; (2) physical integration/connectivity to effectively address supply side constraints related to the improvement of infrastructure in the region to reduce the cost of doing business and enhance competitiveness; (3) productive integration to enhance competitiveness and build regional productive capacity; (4) gender and social integration to foster gender equality and women empowerment, facilitate social and cultural development, and support youth empowerment and innovations. The pillars are interdependent, strongly linked and provide a logical path to follow in order to achieve long term results. Crosscutting issues such as peace and security, statistics and climate change are integrated in all the pillars as they are necessary preconditions and provide an enabling integration environment. Critical for a successful implementation are the following (i) clear institutional structures; (ii) accountability; (iii) communication; (iv) human resource management; (v) monitoring and evaluation; and (vi) risk management. The interventions proposed to improve production are (i) an inclusive and sustainable increase in agricultural production and productivity; (ii) reducing in postharvest losses for at least 5 priority food commodities; (iii) increased resilience of livelihoods and improved management of risks in the agriculture sector; (iv) implementation of priority measures to de-risk agriculture; (v) making farm, pastoral, and fishery households resilient to climate and weather-related risks; (vi) improved fisheries management and governance and effective protection of ocean space and resources through better coordination across different sectors, inclusive participation, and application of protective measures and greater use of surveillance and enforcement tools; (vii) improved production and trade in fish and fish products; (viii) improved prevention of ocean/blue economy risks including illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, marine pollution and climate change through integrated approaches to effective regional cooperation on maritime security. In the field of nutrition, the document focuses on the implementation of SPS measures aiming at guaranteeing food safety, such as (i) developing harmonized, multi-hazard early warning and response systems to identify and avert threats to food security; (ii) developing food safety regulations for key commodities; and also (iii) encouraging investment in fisheries so as to increase its contribution to economic growth, food security and job creation. To protect the environment, the Plan envisages (i) investments in the renewable energy sector; (ii) increased production and access to clean energy; (iii) climate change mitigation in transport, ICT, and energy sectors improved; (iv) use of early warning and response systems; (v) improvement in climate change mitigation and adaptation. The Plan highlights the importance of an inclusive social and economic integration to promote the national growth, including the following (i) strengthen mechanisms that guarantee peace and security; (ii) improve regional physical and communications infrastructure; (iii) develop agroindustry and value chain that is inclusive of women and youth; (iv) establish public-private partnerships (PPP) with strong linkage to smallholder agriculture; (v) increase access to financial services to be able to transact agriculture business, specially for women; (vi) improve the access to competitive markets for agricultural commodities; (vii) develop weather indexed insurance; (viii) improve implementation of SPS measures and technical measures for trade in agricultural commodities; (ix) attract industrial investment, and harness application of technology and innovation in industry for improved productivity and competitiveness across priority sectors of development; (x) increase market access/linkages for goods and services for large firms and MSMEs including youth and women owned MSMEs; (xi) catalyze inclusive sustainable transformation of the blue economy; (xii) increase the contribution of tourism to the economic growth of COMESA region; (xiii) foster gender equality and social development to reduce gender inequalities and strengthen inclusion of women and youth in social, political and economic development.
2021-01-01