The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) is planning to introduce a Business Visa Scheme to ease the movement of entrepreneurs and business professionals across member states and facilitate cross-border trade and investment.
The Chair of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Professor Amon Murwira, emphasised the need for economic integration as he called for regional borders to facilitate administration rather than obstruct trade and economic cooperation.
“Let our borders be administrative borders, not trade borders. One market, one future,” Prof Murwira said.
He said regional integration should go beyond expanding markets, facilitating trade and attracting investment to ensuring that citizens, particularly young people, enjoy improved living standards.
“Regional integration is not solely about expanding markets, facilitating trade or increasing investment, but about ensuring that our people, including our youth, enjoy high standards of living,” he said.
Prof Murwira further underscored the importance of peace and security in sustaining regional economic development, arguing that conflict prevention should be closely linked to economic, international and development objectives.
He called for greater investment in early-warning and early-response systems, preventive diplomacy, mediation and dialogue, alongside efforts to address the political, socio-economic and development challenges that fuel conflict.
“Our peace and security agenda must remain firmly connected to our economic, international and development objectives,” he said, adding that the region needed to tackle the root causes of conflict and replace instability with peace and prosperity.
While echoing Professor Murwira’s sentiments, COMESA Council board president, Mucai Kunyiha, said the proposed scheme was part of efforts to strengthen business mobility and enable entrepreneurs to pursue commercial opportunities across the region with fewer mobility constraints.
“We are also strengthening our focus on business mobility. As businesses expand across borders, entrepreneurs and business professionals must be able to move efficiently within the region,” Kunyiha said.
The proposed Business Visa Scheme dovetails with COMESA’s broader regional integration agenda, which seeks to reduce barriers to cross-border business and investment while building a more connected regional market.
If implemented, the initiative could complement these broader integration objectives by improving business mobility and enabling entrepreneurs to pursue opportunities across COMESA member states.
Furthermore, the initiative would support efforts to strengthen regional commercial ties, expand market access and promote investment, with economic cooperation and peace remaining important foundations for sustainable development.
