Ruto pushes for one African market as Kenya hands over COMESA chairmanship to Zimbabwe
Outgoing COMESA chairperson and Kenyan President William Ruto advocated for deeper African economic integration during the handover to Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa. Ruto emphasized the need for a unified market to reduce reliance on raw material exports and improve resilience against global economic shocks.
Why it matters
Highlights a strategic shift in African trade policy aimed at increasing regional self-sufficiency and collective bargaining power in the global economy.
OUTGOING Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) chairperson and Kenyan President William Ruto has said regional integration is no longer a dream but an economic and strategic necessity as the global order shifts.
Handing over the COMESA chairmanship to President Emmerson Mnangagwa in Harare on Thursday, Ruto argued that African integration was the answer to rising geopolitical tensions, disrupted supply chains and growing competition for critical resources.
“If prosperity is not shared, then it is not prosperity at all,” Ruto said.
“The global order is shifting, geopolitical tensions are rising, protectionism is returning, supply chains are breaking, competition for critical and strategic resources is intensifying. COMESA’s commitment to African integration is our answer to all of these emerging challenges.”
He said African countries must increase trade among themselves, build resilient regional value chains and strengthen productive capacity to withstand external shocks.
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