News / Education
Steps towards establishment of a COMESA Virtual University
06 Sep 2015 at 07:57hrs | Views
The modalities on the establishment of a COMESA Virtual University was one of the key issues addressed during the first Annual COMESA Research Forum held on 10-14 August 2015 in Entebbe, Uganda.
Comesa website reported that the forum that was attended by policy makers, academia and the private sector from the COMESA Member States agreed on the establishment of a postgraduate virtual program in regional integration which will commence with a master's degree program.
The program would commence with 13 Universities that were represented at the forum and those COMESA would consider through its selection criteria. This would be operationalized through a collaborative framework with one Host University and other collaborating ones. The program will provide practical skills to students to support trade negotiations, as well as enhance the process of regional integration.
The establishment of a virtual university was agreed on during the 34th Council of Ministers Meeting held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in March 2015.
The research forum was organized by the COMESA Secretariat under the ACBF funded project on Capacity building in Economic and Trade Policy Analysis and Research.
In attendance were the Member States of Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, DR Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Seychelles, Swaziland, Rwanda, Sudan, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
A total of eight papers were presented and discussed in-depth to give a clear policy implication to guide the attainment of deeper regional integration within the configuration of COMESA. Among these were; the Effect of Aid for Trade Facilitation on Kenya's exports to COMESA countries; Impact of Kenya's Sugar Safeguard Measure on Sugar Producers under the COMESA Trade Regime; Financial Inclusion, ICT and Intra-Regional Trade in COMESA.
Other topics covered were; Tracking informal cross border trade in Eastern and Southern Africa; Tuna fisheries within the West Indian Ocean: Is there a role for
COMESA; Interdependence of Stock and Foreign Exchange Markets in COMESA: Implications for Financial Integration in the COMESA Region; Proposal for transformational and inclusive growth program for COMESA Member States; and Fiscal Policy for Domestic Resource Mobilization in COMESA region.
Further, research thematic areas where the regional think tanks, universities and policy makers ought to give priority in investigating were highlighted. They covered issues of FTA, Customs Union and Common Market implementation, the market potential of the COMESA bloc, intra-regional trade and economic development, the tripartite FTA and impact on Member States.
Also discussed were the shifting geopolitics and the emerging economies, global preferences for Africa, and its effects on intra-regional trade, trade facilitation and intra-regional trade, transportation, energy, and ICT in the region, impact of cross border conflicts on regional trade among others.
The participants appreciated the importance of the research annual forum and emphasized the need to sustain it on an annual basis.
Comesa website reported that the forum that was attended by policy makers, academia and the private sector from the COMESA Member States agreed on the establishment of a postgraduate virtual program in regional integration which will commence with a master's degree program.
The program would commence with 13 Universities that were represented at the forum and those COMESA would consider through its selection criteria. This would be operationalized through a collaborative framework with one Host University and other collaborating ones. The program will provide practical skills to students to support trade negotiations, as well as enhance the process of regional integration.
The establishment of a virtual university was agreed on during the 34th Council of Ministers Meeting held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in March 2015.
The research forum was organized by the COMESA Secretariat under the ACBF funded project on Capacity building in Economic and Trade Policy Analysis and Research.
In attendance were the Member States of Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, DR Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Seychelles, Swaziland, Rwanda, Sudan, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Other topics covered were; Tracking informal cross border trade in Eastern and Southern Africa; Tuna fisheries within the West Indian Ocean: Is there a role for
COMESA; Interdependence of Stock and Foreign Exchange Markets in COMESA: Implications for Financial Integration in the COMESA Region; Proposal for transformational and inclusive growth program for COMESA Member States; and Fiscal Policy for Domestic Resource Mobilization in COMESA region.
Further, research thematic areas where the regional think tanks, universities and policy makers ought to give priority in investigating were highlighted. They covered issues of FTA, Customs Union and Common Market implementation, the market potential of the COMESA bloc, intra-regional trade and economic development, the tripartite FTA and impact on Member States.
Also discussed were the shifting geopolitics and the emerging economies, global preferences for Africa, and its effects on intra-regional trade, trade facilitation and intra-regional trade, transportation, energy, and ICT in the region, impact of cross border conflicts on regional trade among others.
The participants appreciated the importance of the research annual forum and emphasized the need to sustain it on an annual basis.
Source - Comesa
