国内英语新闻:China urged to explore investment opportunities in COMESA

"So with Chinese investors increasingly looking for investment in Africa, we should as COMESA make it a requirement for them to enter into joint ventures with our companies to avoid backlash from our people who might feel disadvantaged," Ngwenya said.

Among others, the COMESA Customs Union provides for easier trade among members states and with other countries outside COMESA through harmonized trading systems.

Member states that join the union will adopt an agreed Common External Tariff (CET) to be charged to third parties.

The agreed CET rates are 0 percent on capital goods, 0 percent on raw materials, 10 percent on intermediate goods and 25 percent on finished goods.

The policy will also determine revenue sharing amongst the union's members.

Ngwenya said with its 19 member states, a population of 456 million and annual imports valued at 32 billion U.S. dollars and exports of 82 billion U.S. dollars, COMESA forms a major market place for both internal and external trading.

The regional integration program for COMESA member states established a Free Trade Area (FTA) in October 2000, a customs union in 2009, and aims to establish a monetary union by 2015 and a COMESA community by 2025.

The customs union was launched at the 13th summit of the COMESA Heads of State and Government held in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, last year at which Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe assumed the rotational one-year-chairmanship of the regional economic grouping.

Meanwhile, Ngwenya said COMESA was in the process of working out modalities to access the 1 billion U.S. dollar China-Africa Development Fund to benefit COMESA small and medium entrepreneurs.

The creation of the fund was one of eight mechanisms for assisting African countries unveiled by Chinese President Hu Jintao at the Forum on Africa-China Cooperation held in Beijing in November 2006.