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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.

A three-day negotiation meeting on the Simplified Trade Regime (STR) between the Republic of Mozambique and the Republic of Malawi is currently underway in Tete – Mozambique. Senior government officials from the two countries will spend three days discussing how they can contribute towards meeting their commitments in the areas of trade facilitation, and the simplification of customs procedures; both within the context of the SADC Protocol on Trade and in line with multilateral commitments. Implementation of the STR helps to reduce border delays and long queues facing small cross-border traders. Speaking during the opening ceremony on Tuesday 12 March 2024 the leader of delegation for Malawi, Mr. Limbikani Kachiwaya, Director of MSME and Cooperatives in the Ministry of Trade and Industry said Malawi remains committed to finalizing the framework and ensure it is operational as soon as practically possible. Mr. Lazaro Macuacua, Director of Legal Office in the Ministry of Industry and Trade in Mozambique said since the last meeting the team had in Johannesburg, South Africa in November 2023, they have been doing more research and inquiries on how the framework can be mutually beneficial to the people of Mozambique and Malawi. The STR has been designated as a customs and trade facilitation instrument. Informal cross border traders and small-scale cross-border traders face numerous obstacles that prevent them from benefiting from the SADC Free Trade Agreement. Small and informal traders have, for a long time faced a lot of difficulties in meeting the requirements to benefit from SADC FTA and obtaining necessary documentation, such as certificates of origin. The discussions underway in Tete will help to resolve this. Benefits realized from implementing the STR Framework include the simplification of clearance processes for both the traders and the customs officials, better data collection and monitoring, reduction in the cost and time of clearing goods and promotion of use of designated routes, and reduction in smuggling of goods across borders. Informal Cross Border Trade (ICBT) contributes about 30- 40% of the total intra-SADC trade, with one study estimating that the average value of ICBT in the region amounts to US$17.6 billion per year. Cross-border trade is observed to play an important role in sustaining livelihoods and food security, especially in border regions. Many of these traders are women, who make major contributions towards trade and agriculture-led growth in most African countries. For instance, the UN Development Fund for Women estimates that women account for about 70% of CBT in the Southern and Eastern Africa regions. Among other things, the Tete meeting will discuss a Common list of products from Malawi to be considered under the STR with Mozambique, a threshold value for consignments that can be traded and the frequency a trader can trade in a day.