Nearly all Comesa heads of State and government convened in Lusaka, Zambia on October 31, 2000 for the launch of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA), among them were presidents from Djibouti, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Sudan, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
In such events, the order of business protocol takes precedence. In the programme, President Ismail Omar Guelleh of Djibouti was among those scheduled to speak.