SPEECH BY THE ASSITANT SECRETARY GENERAL PROGRAMME COMESA,
AMB KIPYEGO CHELUGET (DR)

ECOSOCC SENSITIZATION AND MOTIVATION CAMPAIGN METTING FOR CIVIL SOCIETIES ORGANIZATIONS HELD IN LUSAKA, ZAMBIA

12TH August 2014.

Honourable Guest of Honour, Minister of Community Development

Dr Jinmi Adisa, Director CIDO,

Ambassador Lazarous Kapambwe, Special Advisor to the AU Chairperson,

Distinguished Delegates,

Invited Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It give me great pleasure to welcome all participants to this sensitization and motivation campaign for Zambian civil society organizations that is taking place here today in our COMESA Conference Center.

Our agreement to host this meeting is due to the variety of reasons. First, the meeting is being organized by the Citizens and Diaspora Directorate (CIDO) of the African Union in order to implement the decision adopted by the 21st Ordinary Session of the Executive Council of the Union (EX.CL/Dec.849(XXV) held in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea in June/July 2014.

The Decision directed the Commission to extend the call for applications into the 2nd ECOSOCC General Assembly by three (3) month and to conduct a sensitization and motivation Campaign within this for the elections. I am happy to note that the AU Commission chose to commence the process of the sensitizations campaign in Lusaka, Zambia. May I first of all extend our sincere appreciation to the Honourable Guest of Honour, Minister of Development for taking time out of his busy schedule to come and open this workshop. We are truly honoured by your presence.

Civil Society Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Our desire to work closely with the AU to ensure the implementation is directly related to the responsibility of COMESA as a Regional Economic Community and building bloc of the African Union. Significantly also COMESA is focused on trade and development and this enterprise can only be undertaken in a framework that harnesses the energies and efforts of all segments of society to promote integration and development.

Ladies and Gentlemen
COMESA understands the importance of collaboration with civil societies and other Non state actors such members of parliament, private sector organizations and other relevant groups for effective regional integration. COMESA has been working closely with CSOs and Non state actors in Climate change, CADDP, ACTESA and Governance and Peace and Security programme.

Guest of Honour
During the Fourth Summit of the COMESA Authority that convened in Nairobi, Kenya in May 1999, a decision was made for COMESA to be formally involved in matters of peace and security. This was in recognition of the fact that conflicts in the sub-region were adversely affecting our regional integration agenda as there can not be any sustainable development amid violent conflicts.

Following that decision, COMESA held various consultations and it became clear that the conflicts in our region are very complex and exhibit the kind of dynamism that calls for multifaceted approaches to address them and this in turn requires a variety of stakeholders to work together in addressing them. This not only ensures that comprehensive solutions are reached but it also ensures that issues affecting peace and security are addressed at grass root levels.
As a Secretariat, we were then directed to ensure the involvement of private sector and civil society organisations on matters of peace and security in a consultative basis. During the Tenth Summit of the COMESA Authority that was held in Kigali in June 2005, we were further directed to ensure that a wide range of civil society organisations in all our member States become aware of the rules of accreditation so as to give them all an equal opportunity to partner with COMESA in this Programme.

We have since been able to develop rules of accreditation which were disseminated to civil societies at national level through national consultations in seventeen countries, including Burundi, Comoros, DRC, Djibouti Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Swaziland, Sudan, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe and thirty (30) CSOs have been accredited to the programme. COMESA has also involved Parliamentarian from our member state, through the Parliamentarian Forum, the Member of Parliaments have participated in election observation and also have been able to provide in puts in all the researches which have been conducted in the region on the status of peace and security.

We are happy that the African Union has also taken up the decision to strengthen efforts aimed at collaborating further with the civil society organizations and other non state actors. As you are aware, COMESA as a REC is a building block of African Union programs and activities. Therefore COMESA peace and security programme is developed in line and according to the AU Peace and Security architecture. It is also against such a background that CIDO and COMESA are working together to sensitize CSOs on the ECOSOCC Elections as directed by the AU Commission. Hence, COMESA will continue working with CIDO in this sensitization process in all the COMESA member states.
I am hopeful that this meeting will help civil society organizations with the information they need in order for them to apply for ECOSOCC elections.

I want to end by thanking the guest of honour for taking his time off to open this very important meeting and i also thank AU for choosing to work with COMESA as a REC on this important undertaking.