A high level delegation of Ministers from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) visited the EC Court of Justice on 15 and 16 October 1997.

COMESA was first established as the Preferential Trade Area for Eastern and Southern African states in 1981. The PTA was transformed into COMESA by a Treaty which entered into force on 8 December 1994 and which was signed by 21 states including some of the island states of the Indian Ocean. The main objective of COMESA is to facilitate sustainable development through market integration by means of joint adoption and pursuance of common macro-economic policies; the creation of an environment enabling socio-economic development to safe-guard peace and security, and thus contribute towards the establishment of an African Economic Community.

Measures already taken by COMESA will lead to the realisation of a free-trade area by the year 2000 and of a customs union with a common external tariff by the year 2004.

In addition to the supreme authority comprising the Heads of State and Government of all Member States and a Council of Ministers, the Member States of the COMESA have agreed, in the COMESA Treaty, to establish a Court of Justice as an independent judicial body for the settlement of disputes arising from the interpretation or the implementation of the Treaty.

It is in that context that Ministers and Senior Legal Officials visited the Court of Justice. The delegation was led by the Honourable Amos Wako, Chairman of the COMESA Council of Ministers of Justice and Attorneys General and Attorney General of Kenya, the Honourable P.A. Chinamasa Attorney General of the Republic of Zimbabwe, the Honourable T. Sinunguruza Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Burundi and the Honourable Andrew Chenge Attorney General of Tanzania.

During the course of the visit the delegation met the President and Members of the Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance as well as senior officials of the Institution.

During a lunch hosted by the President, Gil Carlos Rodríguez Iglesias, and other Members of the Court, the President congratulated the delegation on the progress already made towards achieving the objectives of COMESA. He stressed the important role which the EC Court of Justice had played in the development of the European Community by ensuring that the Member States and the Institutions acted in accordance with the law and by protecting the rights of individuals and undertakings.