Construction of a US$1.3 million trade hub is set to commence in Eswatini.

This follows the signing of a financing agreement between the EU and COMESA, according to the Nerve Africa. The multipurpose hub will be built in Manzini (the country’s second-largest city), accommodating 300 traders while impacting more than 400 businesses.

The development, which is expected ‘to enhance the performance of the leather value chain in the country, improve quality infrastructure services to support production and trade, [and] raise the capacities for investment’ will also significantly benefit SMEs, providing them with private-sector support while improving the quality of their products and marketing skills. A women’s business centre will also be established.

The project, says COMESA secretary general Chileshe Mpundu Kapwepwe, ‘preserves [Eswatini’s] unique culture by pulling on the knowledge of the gatekeepers of Eswatini traditions while applying modern technologies and designs that are attractive to an international market’.

19 March 2019
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