Bujumbura, Burundi(Mogadishu24)-Djibouti has formally requested the support of the 21 member countries of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) in its bid for the African Union Commission Chairperson seat.

During his address at the 23rd COMESA summit, Djibouti’s Prime Minister Abdoulkader Kamil Mohamed appealed to the bloc to back Djibouti’s Foreign Minister, Mahmoud Ali Yusuf, for the AU leadership role in the election set for February 2025.

The summit, themed “Accelerating Regional Integration through the Development of Regional Value Chains in Climate-Resilient Agriculture, Mining, and Tourism,” was held in Bujumbura, Burundi.

It marked the transition of COMESA’s leadership to President Evariste Ndayishimiye of Burundi, who succeeded Zambia’s President Hakainde Hichilema as Chair of the regional trade bloc.

With COMESA focusing on enhanced regional cooperation in agriculture, mining, and tourism, the event also inaugurated a new COMESA Bureau, appointing Burundi as Chair, Kenya as Vice Chair, and Zambia as Rapporteur.

Prime Minister Mohamed expressed gratitude to the event’s stakeholders, praising the summit’s discussions and projects aimed at advancing economic collaboration within the region.