LUSAKA, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Africa's biggest trading block has approved an action plan and regional guidelines which pave the way for the implementation of the block's industrial strategy, a spokesperson said on Friday.
Mwangi Gakunga, head of Corporate Communications at the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Secretariat said ministers responsible for industry approved the action plan and guidelines during the third COMESA Ministerial Committee meeting on industry.
"This paves the way for the implementation of the COMESA Industrial Strategy, which is aimed at supporting structural transformation of regional economics through sustainable and inclusive industrialization," he said in a release.
The ministers, he said, urged member states to integrate activities of the regional action plan into their national industrial development plans and to further allocate budgets to implement their industrial development plans in synergy with the regional activities.
The ministers, he added, further directed the COMESA Secretariat to facilitate mobilization of financial and technical resources required for the implementation of the regional action plan.
According to the release, the specific targets of the COMESA Industrialization Strategy which runs from 2017 to 2026 are to increase value added products and exports as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from the current estimate of 9 percent to 29 percent by 2026, increase the share of manufacturing to GDP to at least 20 percent by 2026.
