Update: Hichilema hands COMESA the title for 14 hectares in Lusaka for a new US$140 million headquarters

President Hakainde Hichilema has handed over the certificate of title for 14 hectares of land in Lusaka for the new headquarters of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA). He gave the document to the chair of the COMESA Authority, Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa, at the 25th summit of heads of state and government in Harare on Thursday 22 October. Zambia was also elected vice-chair of the COMESA Authority at the summit. The land is on Lusaka's Airport Road and is valued at more than US$7 million. The Zambian government raised the allocation from an original 10 acres. The plan is for a headquarters building, a 200-room hotel and a conference facility seating 1,000 people, among other developments. In October 2025 the COMESA Secretariat signed a US$140 million framework agreement with China State Construction Engineering Corporation Limited to finance and build the complex. A ground-breaking ceremony is expected "in due course" with both presidents attending. No date has been given. Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Minister Mulambo Haimbe, in a statement from Harare, called the handover a "significant milestone" towards a modern headquarters and reaffirmed Zambia's commitment as host country. The outgoing chair, Kenya's President William Ruto, praised the bigger land allocation and said the headquarters would strengthen COMESA's institutional capacity and support its 2026 to 2030 Medium-Term Strategic Plan. Mr Mnangagwa told the summit that intra-COMESA exports grew to more than US$40 billion in 2025 since the Free Trade Area was set up. Mr Hichilema said, "The numbers appear good in terms of the Intra-COMESA transactions, and we can do more, we can do better." He urged member states to remove trade barriers, improve connectivity and move towards non-stop border posts. COMESA has 21 member states, from Tunisia in the north to Eswatini in the south, and was founded in 1981 as the Preferential Trade Area. The summit theme wa