Southern African Trade and Connectivity Project (Malawi)
The Malawi Government has touted the continued tripartite collaboration between the Republic of Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique as they strengthen their coordination of transport and trade facilitation activities across the three member states.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the 8th Tripartite Nacala Development Corridor Management Committee (NDCMC) meeting in Lusaka – Zambia, Mr. Fergus Gondwe, Director of Technical Services in the Ministry of Transport and Public Works said so far the three countries have recorded many achievements. He highlighted the successful conclusion and signing of three agreements in October 2023; the Nacala Development Corridor Agreement, the Tripartite Road Transport Agreement and the Tripartite Rail Transport Agreement.
One of the initiatives of the NDCMC to improve the Nacala Corridor was the creation of ten sector cluster groups to encourage three-way collaboration at the individual agency level. The Lusaka meeting has, therefore, been organised to review progress on action plans by the different clusters, a side meeting by legal counsels to finalise the Nacala Development Corridor hosting agreement, cluster meetings to develop action plans for the next six months, and deliberate on the key decisions that need to be made focusing on establishing the legal framework for operations of road and rail transport.
The leader of the Mozambique delegation to the meeting, Mr. Fernando Ouana, National Director for Logistics and Development of the Private Transport Sector observed that rail reduces transaction costs and road accidents hence should be encouraged. He said the minister of the Ministry of Transports and Communications visited Malawi to bring Mozambique’s note of commitment to the transport of goods and is preparing a visit to Zambia to ensure quality logistics to bring transaction costs to desired levels.
Host for the meeting Mr. Fredrick Mwalusaka, Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Transport and Logistics emphasized that Zambia is fully committed to developing Nacala and Beira corridors and has ratified, or is in the process of ratifying the Corridor Agreements.
He hoped the meeting would deliberate and provide solutions to address any impediments to trade affecting the smooth flow of goods and services in the three countries. He added that there is need to harmonise customs systems between Revenue Administrations and the coordination and management of activities along the Corridor. “There is need to make strides in finalizing the “User Pay Principle” as well as the Standard Quality Assurance and Metrology issues to ensure the harmonization of standards across the three member States”, he said.The World Bank Group is a lead cooperating partner and has provided support along the Nacala Development Corridor to help Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia reduce trade costs and time, increase value chain development, and improve infrastructure to increase market access to beneficiaries along the Corridor. These activities are being implemented under the Southern Africa Trade and Connectivity project. The Lusaka meeting will last 5 days.
