LUSAKA, July 12 (Xinhua) -- The Zambian government said on Wednesday that facilitation of free trade was key to the advancement of trade and development especially for landlocked countries in Africa.
Minister of Finance Felix Mutati said initiatives such as the World Trade Organization (WTO) trade facilitation agreement presents an opportunity for Africa to address trade facilitation related challenges, including transit trade.
"The standardization of trade facilitation processes and the development of supportive infrastructure, including the assurance of border security, are important in addressing the challenges," he said in remarks delivered at the ongoing World Customs Organizations Global Transit Conference in Brussels, Belgium, according to a statement released by his ministry.
According to him, the effective implementation of the agreement will increase the prospects for enhancing economic activities and impact on job creation, poverty reduction, and improved domestic resource mobilization.
The Zambian minister added that efficiency of transportation logistics was yet to reach desired levels in Africa as it still requires a lot of work to ease the administrative and customs procedures.
While acknowledging that there were a lot of initiatives in Africa to tackle the problem of free facilitation of trade, concerns have been raised about lack of harmony in policies and programs across regional economic communities.
Africa, he said, has the highest transport costs in the word, accounting for above 20 percent of the total imported price of goods within landlocked countries.
According to him, such a scenario exemplifies inefficiency as expensive transportation restricts business activity, constrains global competitiveness, retards intra-regional trade and stunts job creation and poverty reduction.
He however expressed happiness that efforts have been made to tackle the challenges through the establishments of One-Stop Border Posts.
He welcomed the move by the World Customs Organization to launch the New Global Transit Guidelines meant to minimize transit time.
The transit guidelines, he said, will be used as a practical tool by landlocked countries to assess their national and regional transit regimes.
