The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) will hold its fourth investment forum in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, in March this year.

This was revealed by Doris Mitti Nakiwala, the Deputy Director of Communications at the Uganda Investment Authority.

Rwanda is among the 19 member states that constitute the regional grouping. The forum will bring together over 1,000 leading international companies and business representatives with policy makers to discuss new investment and business opportunities within Eastern and Southern Africa.

Following the previous forum that was held in Egypt, this year’s event is unique and differs from previous forums because of its collaboration with Dubai – the business capital of the Middle East.

"It’s a chance for the East African Community (EAC) to showcase its opportunities to the global market because Dubai investors represent the whole world,” Nakiwala said in an interview yesterday.

The two-day high-level forum will aim at generating a wide array of new business opportunities with representatives from the COMESA region showcasing their success stories while unveiling new projects.

"It’s also an opportunity for us as EAC to showcase ourselves as a bloc ready for trade,” Nakiwala added.
Having successfully launched its Custom Union in 2009, COMESA continues on the road of regional integration by supporting the continuous creation of better investment conditions, making it an increasingly internationally competitive economic bloc.

The bloc has a population 430 million and an annual import bill of around $ 152 billion and an export bill of over $ 157 billion.

Member states include: Burundi, Comoros, D.R. Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Ends