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“Some of our priority areas as CBC board in the coming year include continuing to lobby and work with the Comesa secretariat for the establishment of a Comesa business passport to facilitate free movement of businesspeople,” he said.
Efforts to establish the Comesa business passport come amid efforts by the bloc to roll out an Investment Monitoring Platform in member states to provide potential investors with information on investment decisions throughout the region.
The Investment Monitoring Platform, which was developed by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation, is a digital library and knowledge base that can be used as a tool for planning by investors, countries, businesses, researchers and various other stakeholders which may need investment information for various countries and the region as a whole.
It is hoped that the rolling out of the monitoring platform would complement efforts to promote investment and trade in the region.
Mr Chikohora said during their fresh term in office they would work towards facilitating the formation of industrial clusters to help in the development of small and medium-size enterprises in the region.
SMEs have a critical role in promoting economic growth and development in the region.
“We will continue to work towards the elimination of non-tariff barriers to trade,” he said.
Over the years, non-tariff barriers have been cited as some of the key impediments stifling trade and investment.
He said they would also advocate for a conducive business environment for regional businesses so that they would be competitive against imports.
He said the competitiveness could be enhanced through adopting measures such as having access to constant power supplies.
“We will also advocate for regional financial institutions such as PTA Bank to create some vehicles and products which can easily be accessed by SMEs,” he said.
Online Reporter