Africa-Press – Eswatini. ESWATINI PIONEERS COMESA E-CO SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION
Eswatini is at the forefront of regional trade facilitation, becoming one of the first three COMESA member states to successfully integrate its national systems with the COMESA e-Co system.
This achievement positions Eswatini for the pilot phase of implementing the e-Co, a significant step towards streamlined cross-border trade within COMESA.
This was revealed by COMESA Secretariat Director of Trade and Customs Division Dr. Chriostopher Onyango during the COMESA Sub-regional meeting of the national electronic certificate of origin (e-Co) focal persons at COMESA headquarters based in Lusaka, Zambia, on Monday
clearances
The COMESA Electronic Certificate of Origin (e-Co) is a digital platform aimed at simplifying and expediting the issuance of certificates of origin (COs) – essential documents verifying the origin of goods and enabling preferential treatment within the free trade area.
Traditionally, COs were issued manually, leading to delays and inefficiencies. The e-Co system automates this process, fostering faster clearances and reduced costs for businesses.
Dr. Onyango said the two-day meeting (February 19-21) was part of the implementation of COMESA e-CO system project activities under the COMESA Trade Facilitation Programme (TFP) funded by the European Union (EU) under the 11th European Development Fund (EDF 11).
He highlighted that in November 2018, the COMESA Secretariat and the EU signed a Euro 48 million COMESA TFP for the benefit of its Member States with the overall objective of playing a fundamental role in deepening regional integration, improving inclusive regional economic growth and enhancing competitiveness of the COMESA region.
“I am glad to note that Malawi, Eswatini and Zambia are among the Member States who have successfully completed the process of integration/interfacing of national systems with COMESA e-CO system and they are ready to start the first of phase of piloting the implementation of COMESA e-CO,” Onyango said.
He emphasised that this achievement was the reason behind the COMESA Secretariat having organised this important technical meeting and work session.
Onyango underscored that the meeting aimed to facilitate a joint consultation of national e-CO focal persons of the three Member States with the COMESA project implementation team to conduct a joint testing of the integration of the systems and exchange of e-CO through the platform as part of the overall preparations to launch piloting the e-CO.
With regards to progress of implementation of COMESA e-CO project activities, Onyango highlighted the achievements made so far.
“The COMESA regulations for the implementation of e-CO adopted by the council of Ministers in 2019 where the council also recommended that the Member States should review their national laws to domesticate the COMESA regulations to enable them to exchange the e-cos,” he said.
assessments
He said amendments to the protocol on rules of origin and its appendixes were adopted by the Council of Ministers. Accordingly, the implementation procedures manual and e-CO user guides were also prepared.
“National situational assessments were conducted to review readiness and needs of the Member States. Further engagements are underway with those Member States who have responded to the questionnaire and indicated their readiness,” he said.
Onyanga further stated that the Secretariat assisted to select Member States in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eswatini, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, and Seychelles to prepare their country-specific action plan to interface and pilot the COMESA e-CO system and conduct necessary training and support.
“The process of interfacing/integrating COMESA e-CO system with national systems of Eswatini, Malawi and Zambia has been completed or is at advanced stages which are expected to be part of the first phase of e-CO pilot. Similarly, further engagements are underway to interface with other Member States,” he said.
Lastly, he said the COMESA Secretariat provided technical assistance and capacity building to facilitate national workshops and meetings on rules of origin and e-CO in Ethiopia, Eswatini, Malawi, Seychelles, Tunisia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
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