Member states of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have called for a corridor-wide approach to infrastructure development and trade facilitation to address emerging challenges along the entire North-South corridor.
This was the outcome of a recent meeting of key stakeholders affected by the persistent problems encountered at the Kasumbalesa border post between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia.
Discussions centred around possible solutions to the congestion, trade facilitation, infrastructure and increasing security challenges, particularly for truck drivers and the entire trading community.
A corridor-wide approach hinges on the pillars of customs and trade facilitation, transport and trade-related infrastructure, security and immigration. The meeting further recommended an action matrix whose main recommendations will ensure trade facilitation along the North-South corridors.
Facilitated by the SADC Secretariat, with financial support from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, it brought together public and private sector stakeholders from 10 affected member states: Angola, Botswana, DRC, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, as well as representatives from the Secretariat of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa.
It allowed the member states to comment on the Framework of Collaboration and Action Plan agreed on by the DRC and Zambia on May 9, 2024, in Kinshasa, DRC, and to kick off preparations for the SADC Inter-Ministerial Task Force meeting as mandated by the Council of Ministers and 44th SADC Summit in August last year.
The participants recognised that the problems at the Kasumbalesa border post were intertwined and had a domino effect, impacting the efficiency of the entire North-South and other strategic corridors.
Kasumbalesa is an important border crossing, where several regional trade corridors converge, including the North-South Corridors, Central Development Corridor (Dar es Salaam), Walvis Bay-Ndola-Lubumbashi Corridor, Beira Development Corridor, and the Lobito Development Corridors.
The border posts are characterised by persistent challenges, including inadequate infrastructure on both sides, recurring congestion, very long traffic queues, informal cross-border trading, and inadequate sanitary and health facilities.
