Develop infrastructure, Kibaki urges COMESA states

Written By:PPS,    Posted: Fri, Nov 23, 2012

Kibaki asked COMESA states to expand, rehabilitate and maintain road and rail networks to boost the movement of goods and people (File) President Mwai Kibaki Friday challenged Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) member states to focus on infrastructure development, access to credit and industrialization in order to unleash the potential of micro, small and medium enterprises. Speaking in Kampala when he addressed the COMESA Heads of State Summit, President Kibaki said such enterprises constitute about 90 percent of African business operations and contribute over 50 percent of employment on the African continent. President Kibaki noted COMESA and other regional economic bodies have identified infrastructure development as the backbone of accelerating regional integration and development. President Kibaki asked COMESA states to expand, rehabilitate and maintain road and rail networks to boost the movement of goods and people. The President further said that setting up of one-stop border posts would reduce the amount of time spent by traders and the cost of goods and services. The Head of State said that although COMESA states have increased access to basic financial services to millions of people, most of the small businesses were unable to secure loans to expand their production and trading activities due to lack of collateral. The Head of State said that by addressing infrastructure development, access to credit and industrialization, the continent would witness industrial take-off and create millions jobs for the youth. He noted that the role of small, micro and medium enterprises in the process of industrialization was critical because it formed the basis of business activities in any economy. On energy, the President Kibaki called on member countries to diversify into green sources of energy such as solar, wind and geothermal. He called for interconnection of the various electricity grids in the region to ensure that countries with excess power can sell the surplus to other nations. President Kibaki reaffirmed Kenya's commitment to consolidating and deepening regional integration by supporting processes and institutions such as the East Africa Community, COMESA and the African Union. The theme for this year's summit was "Enhancing intra-COMESA trade through micro, small and medium enterprise development". President Kibaki is accompanied by Foreign Affairs Minister Professor Sam Ongeri, Trade Minister Moses Wetang'ula, the Attoney General Professor Githu Muigai and other senior Government officials.