On 23 June 2026, the COMESA Court of Justice (CCJ) and the Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) signed a Memorandum of Understanding to promote COMESA law, widen access to justice, and strengthen the skills of legal practitioners across the region. The Registrar of the Court, Honourable Dr. Woubishet Shiferaw, and the President of LAZ, Mr. Arnold Kaluba, signed the agreement in Lusaka, Zambia.

The Honourable Registrar commended the initiative taken in fostering a relationship aimed at enhanced dispensation of justice in pursuit of regional integration

The two institutions will conduct Continuing Professional Development (CPD) courses accredited by LAZ on COMESA law, the COMESA Treaty, the Court’s jurisdiction and procedures, arbitration, mediation, and regional trade law. Additionally, they will hold joint conferences and public lectures, organise moot court competitions for students, support internships and secondments, train practitioners on the COMESA Court Digital Evidence Management System, and promote the Court’s arbitration and mediation services as a route for settling disputes.

The President reiterated that the Court plays an important role in ensuring regional integration is anchored in principle and the law. To this end, the partnership brings the work of the CCJ closer to lawyers, students, and businesses, strengthens the rule of law, and makes regional justice more accessible.

Regional integration thrives only where legal commitments are enforced, and the CCJ performs this role across Eastern and Southern Africa. Many practitioners and businesses remain unaware of when and how they can bring a matter before it, and this agreement is set to bridge that gap by reaching out to practitioners, law students, academics, the business community, and the wider public.

Both institutions commit to nurturing the creation of a COMESA Bar Association, giving practitioners across the COMESA region a common professional body through which to engage with COMESA law and the Court.