Estiphanos, Girma (Dr.)Hailu, Belete2021-04-092023-11-042021-04-092023-11-042009-06http://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/123456789/26040Although Regional integration in Africa has a long history which dates back to the and of 19th century, it has failed to achieve its objectives, Several studies have pointed out different factors which contribute for its poor performance. These factors include loss of revenue due to trade liberalization non-complementarily of tradable goods, poor private sector participation, overlapping of memberships and so on. his study assessed and analyzed the problems and determinants Africa regional trade integration in general and COMESA in particular. however, it gives a due attention to determine the impact of trade openness ( trade liberalization) and overlapping of memberships on top of other determinants ( GDP, precipitate GDp, common boundaries, common language of member countries, distance between member countries etc.) on COMESA total trade flow using gravity model approach. The study comes up with the finding that trade openness (trade liberalization) within COMESA member countries boosts the intra-trade flow of the region. in contrast to this, overlapping of membership results in decline for the intra- trade flow of COMESA. Thus, the study recommends that COMESA member countries should liberalize their trade ,diversify the tradable commodities ,increase private sector participations and they should not to be a member of more than one regional group.enCommon MarketGravity ApproachThesis