The European Union (EU) will release 85 million Euros to support initiatives aimed at reforming immigration laws within the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) as part of efforts to enhance intra-trade within the regional bloc, a senior official said on Friday.

EU Head of Delegation to Zambia and Special Representative to COMESA Gilles Hervio said the funds will be made available in the coming six years to support initiatives to enhance the free movement of business persons and professionals.

The funds, he said, have been provided under the 11th European Development Fund (EDF), and will also be used to support regulatory reforms to facilitate trade in key selected service sectors in order to build on the momentum generated by the tripartite and continental free trade negotiation process.

In remarks delivered to a meeting of COMESA, ministers responsible for immigration in Lusaka, the Zambian capital, the EU official said an additional 25 million Euros will also be made available to build capacities in eastern, southern and Indian Ocean regions to support the improvement of migration governance and facilitate legal migration.

"For economic integration and free trade to happen in practice citizens must be able to move freely in the region alongside goods and services as it is a critical pillar of regional integration," he said.

The EU envoy said the free movement of people will curtail illegal immigration and reduce the incentive for organized crime, adding that more restrictions to traveler from one country to another does not necessarily stop the movement of people but accelerates illegal immigration and puts money in the pockets of smugglers.

Sindiso Ngwenya, the secretary-general of COMESA said although intra-trade with the regional bloc has the potential of increasing, non-tariff barriers which include immigration practices were impending the efforts to increase the trade.

According to him, restrictive immigration practices served to promote irregular migration and increase the cost of doing business in the region.

The ministers are expected to make a policy decision regarding the slow progress on the full implementation of the Protocol on Gradual Relaxation and Eventually Elimination of Visa Requirements.

The protocol, contained in the COMESA Treaty, has been ratified by all 19-member countries but has not been implemented by member countries. Endi

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