ADDIS ABABA, May 19 (Xinhuanet) -- Leaders of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) will hold a summit here on May 23-24, which promises to be a milestone in the group's integration program, a senior COMESA official told Xinhua on Sunday.

During the summit, the key thing expected to come out will be the setting up of the COMESA Compensation and Infrastructure Fund,which will help the further integration of the regional group, Mweusi Karake, the public relations officer of COMESA, said in a written interview with Xinhua.

"This will facilitate infrastructure development as well as compensate the possible losers as we head to a customs union to bein place in the year 2004," Karake said.

The fund, which has been approved by the financial ministers ofAfrica's biggest regional economic cooperation group, is expected to receive a contribution of 10 million U.S. dollars from member countries and another 200 million dollars will come from donor agencies.

"A good number of donors have already indicated strong willingness to contribute to the fund," which is "the first of itskind in Africa's regional cooperation", Karake said.

According to the COMESA official, the fund setting up to abate the negative effect of liberalization is believed to be a move to further glue the Free Trade Area (FTA).

Concerning the FTA membership of Rwanda, Burundi and the Comoros, participants of the summit will ratify the timetable for the three to join the free trade zone, that was established in October 2000 with nine members currently.

"Timetable given, but we have to await the outcome of Addis Ababa summit to draw any conclusion on new entrants," Karake said.

Trade remedies and safeguards to consolidate the FTA will also be discussed in the summit.

On the issue of relations with the Southern African DevelopmentCommunity (SADC), Karake said "COMESA and SADC have established a joint task force that meets regularly to discuss and harmonize their programs to avoid duplication".

As for the merger, all regional economic communities, such as COMESA, SADC, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the East African Cooperation (EAC), are supposed to bebuilding blocks for a future African economic community, he added.

"So if all goes well, and the African Union becomes an economiccommunity, these other groupings should be part and parcel of the union."

Karake also welcomed the peace development both in Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Describing peace and security as key challenges of COMESA, he said the bloc has been running a peace and security project to handle the issue.

"This will give confidence to investors, as well give breathingspace to politicians to participate further in the COMESA programs," he said, adding that integration agenda might not be a priority when a country has domestic problems.

Prior to the summit, a gathering of Council of Ministers is scheduled to be held in Addis Ababa on May 20-21, which will give recommendations to the summit, Karake said.

Issues such as progress of the COMESA Clearing House, cooperation between SADC and the EAC, the establishment of a regional customs bond and the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD), will be atop the agenda of the meeting, the official added.

Meanwhile, the Addis Ababa summit will also decide which country will host the permanent seat of the court of justice established four years ago.

The 20-member COMESA was set up in 1994, with a combined population of 340 million, a total land mass of 12.88 million square kilometers and a gross domestic product (GDP) of about 170 billion dollars.

It hopes to achieve a customs union by 2004 and a monetary union by 2025.