The heads of state and government are due to approve important steps towards customs union, set to be launched next year, after their trade ministers last week agreed on a common external tariff deal.
The deal recommends that countries allow free movement of capital goods, introduce a tax of 10% for intermediate products and 25% for finished goods, COMESA officials said.
The leaders are also expected to discuss regional peace and security, including recent violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia.
Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki will today take over the chairmanship of the bloc from outgoing chairman President Ismail Omar Guelleh of Djibouti.
They joined President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia, Rwandan President Paul Kagame and Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa arriving at the UN headquarters in Nairobi this morning.
The 19-member bloc, representing around 400 million people, plans to launch a customs union in December 2008, but experts say the deal may be delayed by some member states who fear their weaker economies could collapse.
COMESA groups Burundi, Comoros, the DRC, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
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