The Southern African Development Community (SADC) will hold an Inter-Ministerial Task Force Meeting on Friday to tackle challenges at the Kasumbalesa Border Post between the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia.
The virtual meeting will bring together ministers responsible for trade, transport, infrastructure and security matters from 10 member states.
“The Kasumbalesa border post has faced persistent issues, including congestion, trade facilitation-related constraints, infrastructure challenges and rising security concerns, particularly affecting truck drivers and the broader trading community,” the Gaborone-based regional bloc said in a statement.
The upcoming ministerial meeting is part of a corridor-wide strategy adopted by SADC to address border challenges comprehensively.
“This approach takes into account that resolving issues at a single border post alone is not sustainable, as efficiencies gained may be offset by bottlenecks at adjacent border crossings and along the trade corridors,” SADC said.
Kasumbalesa connects several regional trade arteries such as the North-South Corridor, Central Development Corridor (Dar es Salaam), the Walvis Bay-Ndola-Lubumbashi Corridor, the Beira Development Corridor, and the Lobito Development Corridor.
The corridors impact Angola, Botswana, DRC, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Ministers from these countries are due to attend Friday’s meeting.
The meeting, chaired by Zimbabwe’s Transport Minister Felix Mhona, seeks to create actionable plans for infrastructure improvement, enhanced trade facilitation and security measures along these essential corridors, ensuring seamless regional trade flow.
JN/APA