Zambia leaves the 25th COMESA Summit as Vice-Chairperson of the bloc, with a title deed handed over for a new headquarters in Lusaka and a call for member states to buy from each other first.
By The Zambian Economist Analyst
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- President Hakainde Hichilema used his address at the 25th COMESA Summit in Harare to urge the 21 member states to trade more with each other before looking elsewhere.
- Zambia assumed the role of COMESA Vice-Chairperson as Kenya’s President William Ruto handed the chairmanship to Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
- Zambia handed over a certificate of title for land on which member states will build a new COMESA headquarters in Lusaka.
- Intra-COMESA exports have fallen from a peak of about US$18 billion in 2023 to about US$13 billion in 2025, according to a ZimTrade brief, which shows the size of the task.
President Hakainde Hichilema has returned to Lusaka from Harare after the 25th Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Heads of State and Government Summit, where Zambia took up the role of Vice-Chairperson and formally committed land for a new headquarters for the bloc.
In a statement after the summit, the President said he had called on all 21 member states “to trade more with each other before looking elsewhere,” arguing that this would create more jobs and business opportunities across the region. He said the Grow Zambia Agenda had also featured in his discussions.
A new seat for the Secretariat
During the summit, Zambia handed over a certificate of title deed for the member states to build a new COMESA headquarters in Lusaka. The Secretariat has been based in Lusaka since the bloc was established, so the title deed secures that position for the long term rather than creating it.
A purpose-built headquarters brings practical benefits for the host city: construction work, regional staff based in Lusaka, and a steady flow of meetings, delegations and technical missions. Those gains will depend on member states agreeing the financing and getting the building done, which the summit did not settle publicly.
Vice-Chair to Zimbabwe’s chairmanship
President Ruto of Kenya handed the COMESA chairmanship to President Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe, the summit host. Zambia, which chaired the bloc after hosting the 22nd Summit in Lusaka in 2023, now sits as Vice-Chairperson. The role keeps Lusaka at the centre of the bloc’s leadership over the coming year.
The trade gap behind the call
The President’s appeal reflects a long-standing weakness. Member states still trade far more with markets outside the bloc than with each other. A ZimTrade brief published in October estimates that intra-COMESA exports peaked at about US$18 billion in 2023 before falling to about US$13 billion in 2025, and that goods from other members make up only around 4 percent of imports.
For Zambian producers, the regional market is close and large. Copper dominates exports to the rest of the world, but processed foods, cement, fertiliser, sugar and manufactured goods are the kinds of products that tend to find buyers in neighbouring markets first. Selling more of them into the region is one of the more realistic ways to widen the export base that the Grow Zambia Agenda is targeting.
Words at a summit do not remove the obstacles. Slow border clearance, non-tariff barriers, poor rail and road links, and payment and currency frictions keep regional trade expensive. Progress on those points will show whether the call to trade with each other first turns into more trucks, trains and invoices crossing COMESA borders.
Related: Hichilema Takes Grow Zambia Agenda to 25th COMESA Summit in Harare.
Related: Hichilema Heads to Harare for 25th COMESA Summit as Zimbabwe Takes the Chair.
Related: Zambia’s manufacturing vision: turning local production into jobs and exports.
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