VICTORIA FALLS, Zimbabwe, June 6 (Xinhua) -- African largest trading bloc COMESA will hold its 13th summit in the Zimbabwean resort town of Victoria Falls on June 7 to 8. The following is a brief introduction about the group:

    The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) was established in December, 1994 to replace the former Preferential Trade Area (PTA) for Eastern and Southern Africa which had existed from the earlier days of 1981.

    The Treaty establishing COMESA was signed on November 5, 1993 in the Ugandan capital of Kampala and was ratified a year later in Lilongwe, Malawi.

    The bloc's vision is to "be a fully integrated, internationally competitive regional economic community with high standards of living for all of its people ready to merge into an African Economic Community". The principal route that has been chosen in order to realize this goal is developing integration through development of trade and investment, according to its official website.

    With headquarters in the Zambian capital of Lusaka, COMESA enjoys an aggregate population of about 400 million and combined GDP of over 360 billion U.S. dollars.

    It comprises Burundi, the Comoros, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

    The 19-member bloc established the first free trading area in Africa in 2000 and is on its way to establish a customs union in the upcoming summit.