By Ambassador V B Soni
T
he Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa
(COMESA) is fast proving to be the engine of growth
within its member states across diverse fi elds. Through
its think tanks and strategic planners, it is in the forefront
preparing blueprint for member states to follow to make it a
cohesive bloc during its forward march.
I feel privileged to share my experience of being directly
involved with Africa for almost 14 years on this important
subject. As former Ambassador of India to Senegal,
Mali, Mauritania, Guinea Bissau, Cape Verde and High
Commissioner to the Gambia concurrently (1990-94), I
gained deep insight into the prevailing economic situation of
these countries, especially in the western region, as well as
the other challenges confronting countries of the continent.
Later on, as Chairman of the Overseas Infrastructure
Alliance (OIA) India Pvt. Ltd. for close to a decade (2005-
2015), I understood priorities of individual countries in the
task of nation-building. These came to the fore during my
many close interactions with the Presidents/Prime Ministers,
senior Ministers/planners/decision makers/top functionaries
and business leaders across the African continent. The
countries in COMESA were my top priority.
Based on that insight, I propose to dwell on how to
harness people’s power in COMESA region through human
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