The Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) and the officials of Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) signed an agrement in the presences of five ministers, economists and trade experts of Saudi Arabia and Africa at the premises of JCCI Saturday. The aim is to support and promote cooperation between the Saudi private sector and 21 African member states of the COMESA. The leader of the delegation Osama Saleh and trade ministers of Kenya, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Seychelles attended the meeting. Saleh Kamel, chairman of the council of the JCCI, singed the agreement with Sayed Moussa, chief of the COMESA, and Heba Salama, director of the Regional Investment Agency (RIA), in the presence of several members of the Board of Directors of the JCCI and other businessmen. Kamel said that the COMESA seeks to achieve integration and cooperation between member states in the areas of trade, agriculture, industry, energy, transportation, telecommunications, finance, information technology, irrigation, and customs, in conformity with the aims and objectives of the JCCI in promoting foreign relations. Another aim is to highlight the role of institutions and commercial sectors and to encourage and enable them to function in line with the rules of member states and create an atmosphere of encouraging local investments as well as foreign direct investment. Kamel also said that the notes are provided to exchange the largest amount of information of mutual interest on the economy, foreign trade laws and trade regulations, customs and the legal system in general and other information to encourage all kinds of cooperation that benefit both parties. “The JCCI and COMESA will cooperate in local and international exhibitions and in the establishment of the offices of information and specialized economic and scientific forums in order to strengthen economic cooperation and exchange of visits by business and technical expertise,” Kamel said.
