COMESA – Leather and Leather Products Institute (COMESA/LLPI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with East Africa Trade and Investment Hub (the Hub), at COMESA/LLPI’s Headquarters, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 2nd February 2016.
In pursuance to regional integration, the two institutions (the Hub and COMESA/LLPI) will streamline their common objectives towards intra and inter trade within East Africa, Africa and the global arena for the benefit of creating wealth employment, gender parity and sustainable development.
The MoU signed between the Hub and COMESA/LLPI will, therefore, serve as an umbrella agreement to materialize their commitment for collaborative activities to support resource-based best industrialization in the region through unlocking the huge potential the region has in terms of livestock in general and in the leather sector in particular. Special emphasis to the US market and opening up of potential markets in East African region for entrepreneurs in USA and Africa will form a fundamental approach to the MoU signed.
Mr. Zewdu Kebede, Programmes Coordinator, said that COMESA/LLPI is very excited to be a part of the Hub’s leather initiative which is targeted towards supporting the enabling environment for attracting investment into the leather sector regionally.
The East Africa Trade and Investment Hub, an organization working to boost trade and investment with and within East Africa, is an initiative funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and managed by Development Alternative Inc. The goal of the Hub is to deepen regional integration, increase the competitiveness of select regional agriculture value chains, promote two-way trade with the U.S. under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and facilitate investment and technology that drives trade growth intra-regionally and to global markets. The Hub’s activities focus on the East African Community countries - Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda and also provide AGOA-related support in Ethiopia, Madagascar, Mauritius and the Seychelles.
COMESA/LLPI is an intergovernmental Institution responsible and mandated for spearheading the development of the leather industry in COMESA Region that encompass 19 member States, namely: Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, DR Congo, Eritrea, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Its main prerogative is to assist the private and public leather industries in promoting value addition, productivity, competitiveness, trade and regional integration. The mode of attaining these objectives is through providing technical, technological and information inputs through pooling relevant capacities and capabilities, and mobilizing resources. It is with this background that COMESA/LLPI has been mainstreaming various development activities in the region through establishment of strong linkages with development partners.
Find out more about the East Africa Trade and Investment Hub and COMESA/LLPI by visiting www.eatradehub.org, and www.comesa-llpi.int, respectively.
