Panafrican News Agency

Tunisia ready to strengthen cooperation with COMESA -President Saied

Tunis, Tunisia (PANA) - The Tunisian president, Kaïs Saïed, affirmed here Wednesday his country's willingness to strengthen its cooperation with the member countries of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).

This, he said, was "to ensure real and sustainable development to African countries and guarantee prosperity and social peace to the peoples of the continent.

The Tunisian president was speaking on Tuesday by video conference during the work of the 21st Summit of Heads of State and Government of COMESA.

He added that Africa had faced tragedies and suffered from famine and that it was time to put an end to this situation, and the only way to achieve this noble goal was to work together and pool efforts.

"Africa must be for Africans and not for those who plot against it," Mr. Saied said, adding that it was imperative to ensure the transfer of technology and knowledge from developed countries to African countries and to build capacity in the field of modern technologies and the digital economy.

This, he said, is help "achieve the transition to innovative and sustainable growth and to support the role of young Africans in the economic and social integration of our continent".

He also emphasized the need to establish a green economy, through investment in renewable energy and by encouraging initiatives and projects in this sector, "which can help our countries to cope with climate change".

The work of the 21st COMESA Summit started Tuesday in Egypt on the theme "Challenging our Resilience Through Strategic Digital Economic Integration".

COMESA is an international organization with a regional focus in East Africa whose main objective is to form a large economic and trade unit capable of overcoming some of the obstacles faced by individual states.

With 21 member-states, a population of over 583 million, a gross domestic product of US$805 billion, and a global export/import trade in goods worth US$324 billion, COMESA is a major market place for internal and external trade.

-0- PANA YY/IN/JSG/SOC/BBA/RA 24Nov2021