SAWZILAND--Egypt offers technical support needed for development in all member countries of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), Minister of Trade and Industry Rashid Mohamed Rashid told a COMESA summit in Swaziland yesterday. "The summit is held at a very critical time. African countries sustained an economic growth of 6.5 per cent annually before the global downtrun in 2008. Fuel and food crises have erupted to cast a shadow on African relentless efforts to achieve higher growth rates," Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said in a speech delievered by Rashid at the 14th COMESA summit yesterday. "The summit is an opportunity to reconsider repercussions of the global downturn. In 2009, growth fell to one per cent. The International Monetary Fund forecast a growth of four and five per cent in 2010 and 2011," Egypt's official Middle East News Agency (MENA) quoted Mubarak as addressing the summit. "Egypt will call for speeding up a legal framework for customs duty union as soon as possible," he added. The summit focuses on co-operation with East African Community (EAC) and Southern African Development Community (SADC). COMESA is a 19-member country with a combined population of over 400 million people. The bloc's annual imports and exports total $32 billion and $82 billion respectively. Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe handed over the chairmanship of COMESA to King Mswati III of Swaziland.
