By JUDITH NAMUTOWE? –

THE Government has signed a 2.6 million Euro grantagreement with the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) for a Regional Integration Capacity Building project.?The project is financed by the European Development Fund (EDF) under the COMESA Adjustment Facility (CAF).
The funds were part of the support from the European Union (EU) through the Regional Integration Support Mechanism (RISM) programme.
According to e-COMESA Newsletter, Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda signed the grant agreement with Secretary General Sindiso Ngwenya in Lusaka.
“Zambia is expected to receive slightly over 2.6 million Euros under the Regional Integration Capacity Building project to support small and medium enterprises in the leather, textile and garments sector as well as to advance the elimination of Non-Tariff Barriers and support?trade facilitation,” Mr Ngwenya said.
The Regional Integration Capacity Building project would also support the implementation of COMESA decisions in the region and Zambia’s efforts to better integrate into the regional market.
This was consistent with Zambia’s policy and strategic orientations which gave importance to the role of COMESA in developing the country.
The funds would specifically, help Zambia to develop a national investment policy, further liberalise regional trade in services and implement important trade facilitation reforms to notably improve border management in line with international standards.
The Regional Integration Support Mechanism (RISM) was one of the main regional programmes of the EU with COMESA.
It provided a total of 111.4 million Euros to support the technical capacities and efforts of COMESA countries to domesticate key regional policy commitments.