Online Reporter
Richard Muponde, Zimpapers Political Hub
ZIMBABWE’S hosting of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa presents more than a diplomatic occasion; it is an opportunity to turn the regional bloc into a pathway for deeper regional integration, industrialisation, investment, expanded trade and economic resilience.
Harare is hosting the 25th COMESA Summit from October 19 to 22 under the theme, “One Market, One Future: Advancing Inclusive Industrialisation, Investment and Regional Integration in COMESA”.
Zimbabwe’s task is to make implementation the measure of success.
The bloc has 21 member states, more than 640 million people and a combined GDP of about US$1 trillion. Its Free Trade Area, established in 2000, has reduced tariffs, while the Tripartite Free
Trade Area involving COMESA, the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) entered into force in 2024.
Yet implementation remains difficult.
Integration must become practical
Regional integration means making borders less obstructive.
COMESA already has trade-facilitation instruments, including the Regional Customs Transit Guarantee, electronic trade systems and the Free Trade Area. But, as Grace Gondwe found in the Journal of African Trade, the FTA has boosted intra-COMESA trade while its potential remains underused.
Her research points to infrastructure, distance, diversification and value chains as decisive constraints.
Zimbabwe should therefore push for measurable implementation targets, including interoperable customs systems, mutual recognition of standards, predictable rules of origin, fewer non-tariff barriers and faster border clearance.
The European Union demonstrates how integration can deepen through freer movement, common rules and harmonised standards.
The lesson for COMESA is not to copy the European model wholesale, but to adapt the principle that regional integration becomes meaningful when agreements translate into predictable rules and practical benefits for businesses and citizens.
Industrialisation must follow trade
A market without productive capacity can become an import destination.
Gondwe’s research identifies the structural weakness clearly: COMESA economies frequently export raw or semi-processed commodities while importing differentiated manufactured goods.
The answer lies in regional value chains that convert comparative advantage into shared production.
COMESA’s September 2026 Industry Ministerial Declaration identifies agro-foods, pharmaceuticals and mineral beneficiation as high-potential sectors, while committing member states to regional value chains and digital technologies.
Zimbabwe should use the Summit to secure an industrialisation delivery framework built around corridor-based projects, regional supplier-development programmes, common standards and financing for factories.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) offers a useful example. Manufacturing networks span electronics, automotive products and textiles, attracting investment while linking domestic firms to global value chains.
COMESA can adapt that lesson by allowing member states to specialise according to their capabilities and logistical advantages, while ensuring that production is distributed across the region rather than concentrated in isolated national markets.
Investment must finance production
Investment must generate factories, infrastructure, technology transfer, jobs and exports.
COMESA already possesses important instruments, including the Trade and Development Bank, the African Trade Insurance Agency and the COMESA Competition Commission. Its Regional
Payment and Settlement System (REPSS), headquartered in Harare, is designed to make regional payments more efficient. Zimbabwe should press for a regional investment pipeline identifying bankable projects and matching them with investors, development finance institutions, pension funds and sovereign wealth funds.
Priority should be given to industrial parks, power generation, rail, logistics, digital infrastructure and value addition. Guarantees, transparent procurement and predictable regulations would help reduce investment risks.
The 19th COMESA Business Forum in Harare can provide an important platform for turning political commitments into actual commercial deals.
Expanded trade needs infrastructure and payments
Expanded trade depends on cheaper, faster and more predictable commerce.
Gondwe’s study found that transport infrastructure improves exports and imports, while information and communication technologies can mitigate disadvantages created by distance.
Analysis by the Southern African Research and Documentation Centre similarly warned that unrealistic deadlines and weak infrastructure could undermine integration, stressing the importance of roads, railways, ports and achievable targets.
Zimbabwe should champion a COMESA corridor compact linking roads, rail, ports, border posts, energy and telecommunications, with clear deadlines and annual reviews. It should also encourage wider adoption of REPSS.
A regional market cannot become resilient if traders remain dependent on expensive payment chains and vulnerable external currencies for ordinary transactions.
Resilience requires a regional production shield
Economic resilience means reducing vulnerability to external shocks without resorting to protectionism.
COMESA should coordinate strategic reserves, regional food-production systems, pharmaceutical
manufacturing, energy interconnections and diversified supply chains.
The Covid-19 pandemic demonstrated how border closures and disruptions to global supply chains can expose dependence on distant suppliers.
The African Continental Free Trade Area should therefore be treated as COMESA’s wider market opportunity.
The Tripartite FTA can help bridge overlapping memberships and enlarge the commercial space.
Zimbabwe can advocate for practical alignment among COMESA, SADC, EAC and AfCFTA rules, particularly on standards, customs procedures and rules of origin.
President Mnangagwa’s regional challenge
President Mnangagwa has framed the chairmanship as a collective responsibility.
In a recent State House interview, he was quoted as saying:
“I believe that together as a community, not only as SADC, but perhaps as Comesa, we need to promote first and foremost food security in our respective jurisdictions and countries. Zimbabwe is lucky. We are endowed with a very progressive agricultural setup. We are food secure and we are willing to share our expertise in that subsector of the economy, agriculture.”
He added that member states should exploit their different strengths, citing Zimbabwe’s agriculture and Zambia’s mining sector. This points towards an integration model based on complementarity, shared expertise and value creation. Zimbabwe’s agricultural capabilities, for instance, can complement mineral and industrial strengths elsewhere in the region, creating opportunities for trade in inputs, technology, skills and finished products.
The objective should be to move beyond a situation where countries simply trade what they already produce towards one where they jointly build what the regional market needs.
The Harare opportunity
COMESA says the Summit is expected to launch its 2026-2030 Medium-Term Strategic Plan and examine industrialisation, regional value chains, critical minerals, agriculture and manufacturing.
The Industry Ministerial Declaration recognises market fragmentation, shallow manufacturing, weak value chains and regulatory barriers.
That creates an opening for Zimbabwe to demand implementation mechanisms rather than merely more declarations.
Zimbabwe’s opportunity is to leave COMESA with measurable integration targets, regional value chains, investment pipelines, infrastructure corridors, expanded trade and resilient production.
The European Union shows that integration deepens through common rules, while ASEAN demonstrates how regional production networks can attract investment and create durable economic linkages.
COMESA already has many of the institutions and instruments required to move forward. What is required now is political discipline, financing, deadlines and accountability.
Harare should therefore stir COMESA towards execution.
The patriotic test of hosting is not the ceremony; it is whether Zimbabwe helps transform “One Market, One Future” from a slogan into a productive African economic reality.
