I have been going to Africa for many years. I did serious work, especially in the eastern part of Africa. During this process, I witnessed the economic and industrial development of East Africa very closely. One of the most important and important main actors of this development is the Comesa trade agreement, which mainly covers East African countries.

The member countries of the Union are as follows; Burundi, Comores, Dr Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Sudan, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe Thanks to this agreement, 21 African countries can easily trade among themselves free of customs duties. In today's article, I will talk about the benefits of the Comesa (Common market for Eastern and Southern Africa) customs agreement for member countries.

Last week, I stayed in Egypt for five days for my business trip. During this time, I had the opportunity to examine Egypt's economy, the foreign investments it received and the incentives it gave to foreign investors. The general opinion in the markets is that many global manufacturers have designated Egypt as the main production hub for East African markets, and thus they can easily develop their trade with the remaining 20 countries within the framework of customs exemption.

As someone who has been actively doing business in Africa for many years, especially in the east of Africa, I can personally witness that Egypt is becoming a more dominant exporter day by day, especially for Comesa zone.

Let's look at the book side of Comesa: The origins of COMESA can be traced back to December 1994, when it was formed to succeed the former Preferential Trade Area (PTA) that had been active since 1981. The primary purpose of COMESA, as stated in its Treaty, is to unite free and sovereign states in a cooperative effort to develop their natural and human resources for the benefit of their people. Therefore, its objectives encompass a broad spectrum of priorities, with a strong focus on promoting peace and security in the region.

'Given its economic history and background, COMESA's main focus lies in the formation of a powerful economic and trading unit that can overcome the barriers encountered by individual states. This is reflected in COMESA's current strategy of 'economic prosperity through regional integration.' With 21 Member States, a population of more than 640 million, and a Gross Domestic Product of $1.0 trillion, COMESA stands as a major market place for both internal and external trading. Its expansive coverage of almost two thirds of the African Continent, spanning 12 million square kilometers, adds to its significance.

One of Comesa's main aims is to stimulate local production within the African continent and reduce foreign dependency on the continent. My recent observations are that success is being achieved in this goal every day. I would like to explain the subject more clearly with examples. We know that with the Comesa agreement coming into force, many global manufacturers have opened production facilities in Egypt and South Africa. In this way, they have the advantage of supplying goods with 0% customs duty advantage, especially to the East African bloc.

I would like to illustrate the issue with a more concrete example. Let's take a company X of Turkish origin. If this company exports its goods from Turkey to Uganda, the importer will pay 25% customs duty and various local taxes of Uganda and the goods will be nationalized at Ugandan customs. In contrast, let's assume that company X has a production facility in Egypt. If it loads the goods from Egypt to Uganda, it will be able to put the goods into the market much cheaper with 0% customs duty. We all know very well and follow closely the negative effects of recent global events on economies. While the economies of countries have contracted significantly in the last 2-3 years, affordable products have come to the fore.

Therefore, the 25% price advantage brought by products circulating without customs duty between 21 countries makes the Comesa customs union agreement even more important. In my personal opinion, the country that experienced the greatest economic development thanks to the Comesa agreement is Egypt. We know that many global companies have significant investments in Egypt. In this way, it is an undeniable fact that they have opened a big door to Sub-Saharan Africa. The increase in Egypt's export figures over the years is the most important evidence of this. Since 2016, the country's export figures have steadily increased.

Exports increased by 2.3% in 2016, hitting $22.5 billion. The next year, exports increased by 16.8% to a total of $26.3 billion. In 2018, exports increased 11.5% to $29.3 billion, continuing their increasing trend. Despite a minor drop in 2020, when exports fell to $29.3 billion, a 3.9% drop, the sector swiftly recovered. The year 2021 proved to be a watershed moment for Egypt's export sector, with total exports hitting $43.6 billion, representing a 48.8% growth over the previous year. Exports reached $51.6 billion in 2022, an increase of 18.3%.

The important point here is that the development has clearly spread not only to Egypt but also to Sub-Saharan countries. To give an example, significant industrialization moves have been made in countries such as Kenya and Uganda, exports to neighboring countries have started, and trade within the continent has accelerated significantly. To take the example a little deeper, let's take Kenya geographically. Kenya, a wonderful agricultural country with its fertile lands, has already taken important steps towards becoming an important production point for many producers with its stable political and economic structure.

For this reason, many European and Far Eastern companies have decided to make their investments here, designating Kenya as their production base. Every product produced in Kenya can easily pass to the neighboring countries of Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Congo, without any customs duty, with the free movement opportunity provided by the Comesa agreement, and find a market there.

This not only increases the cooperation of African countries day by day, but also reduces their dependence on countries outside the continent. In this way, the money stays within the continent. I can say that Comesa is an integrity of vital importance for the future of the local production move in the African continent.