The fund being bank rolled by NEPAD will support all COMESA countries with demonstrated potential to grow in handicrafts for export, agro-processing and ICT. “As you are aware the COMESA Integration Agenda has progressed in leaps and bounds since the establishment of the predecessor institution the PTA in 1982. Along the way, there has always been recognition on the need to maintain a Gender perspective to COMESA programmes. It was for that reason that the COMESA Gender Policy was adopted in 2002,” said Sindiso Ngwenya, the Comesa secretary general.
Under this regime, women who constitute the bulk of cross border traders can move their goods free of duty and taxes across borders without the need to obtain the other complicated documentation. The Secretary General revealed that another important aspect of COMESA’s initiative to promote gender equality and women empowerment in trade and regional integration was the establishment of trading houses. The purpose of trading houses is to enhance the access by women to intra and extra COMESA markets.