KAMPALA, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- The African Development Bank (AfDB) has earmarked an 8.4 million U.S. dollar grant to the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) to enhance public procurement reform projects in the region.
By the end of the project, electronic procurement e-procurement)would be a common feature for all the national procurement agencies.
"The enhancement of Public Procurement Reform will greatly accelerate good governance and transparency in COMESA member states," Sindiso Ngwenya, the Assistant Secretary General of AfDB was quoted by Daily Monitor on Wednesday.
"One of the major challenges faced by our common countries is in having limited resources with corresponding unlimited needs. The optimum use of those resources can only be attained through efficient management in the procurement process,'' he said during the signing at the AfDB headquarters in Tunisia recently.
The new funding followed the successful implementation by COMESA of the Public Procurement Reform project from 2002 to 2005,which was also funded by the AfDB.
The initial funding in May 2001 enabled COMESA to kick start support to the member states in enhancing good governance through modernization of procurement practices and laws.
Its results have seen a blue print for reform that takes into account the needs of the member states and international practices and many of the member states have now started the reform process.
The bank's support to the project is in line with its commitment to promote regional integration and good governance in Africa and with COMESA's objectives to modernize and harmonize procurement systems in the region.
The AfDB's support to COMESA comes at a time when the regional body is on the threshold of establishing a Customs Union which is due in December 2008, following the successful establishment of a Free Trade Area in 2000.
The new development has led to increased intra-COMESA trade; the adoption of common customs laws; and the introduction of many transport facilitation measures. Enditem
