{"id":2114,"date":"2019-10-06T16:59:09","date_gmt":"2019-10-06T16:59:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ipan.co.za\/?p=2114"},"modified":"2019-10-06T16:59:18","modified_gmt":"2019-10-06T16:59:18","slug":"small-cross-border-are-the-key-beneficiaries-of-new-projects-aimed-at-increasing-formal-small-scale-cross-border-trade-flows-in-the-comesa-eac-and-sadc-tripartite-region","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ipan.co.za\/?p=2114","title":{"rendered":"Small cross border are the key beneficiaries of new projects aimed at increasing formal small-scale cross border trade flows in the COMESA, EAC and SADC Tripartite region."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The first is a 15\nmillion euros Regional Small-Scale Cross Border Trade Initiative (SSCBTI)\nproject, while the second is a 53m euros Trade Facilitation Project. These are\nfunded by the European Union under the 11th<\/sup> European Union Development Fund\n(EDF 11).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\ninaugural meeting of the Project Steering Committee (PSC) began today, in\nLusaka, Zambia. The PSC will  provide the overall policy and strategic\nguidance on implementation of the projects and specifically, to coordinate\nimplementation among various actors, who have been delegated and co-delegated\nto handle various aspects of the programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fifteen\nMember States were represented at the meeting including Burundi, Comoros,\nDjibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Eswatini, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius,\nRwanda, Sudan, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Implementation\nof the two  projects is expected  to contribute to higher revenue\ncollection for governments at the borders, increased security and improved\nincomes for traders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nSSCBT initiative is designed to address challenges facing small scale traders\nwhich include high transactions costs arising from delays at the border, high\ntaxes and high transport costs; corruption and harassment among others. In\nCOMESA region, small cross border trade accounts for 30 to 40% of total trade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese\nchallenges are the basis for the COMESA Cross Border Trade Initiative which the\nprogramme aims to address and thus facilitate and formalize this trade,\u201d said\nDr Kipyego Cheluget, Assistant Secretary General in charge of COMESA programmes\nwhen he delegates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At\nthe meeting, it was observed that representatives of the cross-borders are not\nfully equipped to defend the interests of their members; there is no adequate\ndata (disaggregated by gender) to fully understand small scale informal trade\nand there is lack of adequate border infrastructure to cater for small scale\ncross border trade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nTrade Facilitation Programme aims at increasing intra-regional trade flows of\ngoods, persons and services by reducing the costs and delays of imports and\nexports at specific border posts. This will be addressed through reduction of\nnon-tariff barriers (NTBs), implementation of digital Free Trade Area (DFTA),\nWorld Trade Organisation Trade Facilitation Agreement (WTO TFA), improvements\nof the Coordinated Border Management (CBM) and liberalization of Trade in Services\nand free movement of persons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Specific\nactivities of the two programmes have been co-delegated to UN agencies to\nimplement owing to their expertise and competences in the respective areas.\nThese are; the International Trade Centre (ITC) and the International\nOrganisation for Migration (IOM), the United Nations Conference on Trade and\nDevelopment (UNCTAD) and the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some\nactivities of the programme will be for the whole COMESA\/Tripartite region\nwhile others will be focusing on the targeted borders, namely: Chirundu,\n(Zambia \/Zimbabwe); Mchinji\/Mwami, (Malawi\/Zambia); Moyale, (Ethiopia\n\/Kenya) Kasumbalesa, (DR Congo\/Zambia) and Tunduma\/Nakonde, (Tanzania\n\/Zambia).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nPSC is made up of experts from the COMESA Secretariat, who will be the main\ndrivers of the project and will include representatives from the European\nUnion, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the five targeted\nMember States.\n\nThe Head of Cooperation at the European Union delegation to Zambia and\nCOMESA Mr. Gianluca Azzoni stressed the need for effective coordination in the\nprogramme implementation between COMESA, the Member States and the Multilateral\nagencies involved in the implementation.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first is a 15 million euros Regional Small-Scale Cross Border Trade Initiative (SSCBTI) project,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":158,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[545,546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-comesa","category-eac"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/www.ipan.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/COMESA_Logo.jpg?fit=604%2C318","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ipan.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ipan.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ipan.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ipan.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ipan.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2114"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.ipan.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2116,"href":"http:\/\/www.ipan.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2114\/revisions\/2116"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ipan.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ipan.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ipan.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ipan.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}