Trade Facilitation | TradeMark Southern Africa (TMSA) - Advancing Regional Integration in Southern and Eastern Africa


Why Trade Facilitation is Important for Africa December 2011 The author of the latest Africa Trade Policy Note, entitled Why trade facilitation is important for Africa, draws extensively on the success of the Chirundu OSBP in arguing that trade facilitation and regional integration are "joint enterprises". The report is written by Barbara Rippel, a senior economist for the World Bank's Africa Region.
Final Report \| Evaluation of the COMESA/SADC Transit Management System September 2011 The COMESA/SADC members, particularly landlocked countries, experience high transport costs in their external trade transactions. For some countries the component of transport costs reaches as high as 55 percent of export costs. Part of these costs relates to the provision and management of Customs bond. This stems from the fact that in the movement of external trade, Customs law requires that a bond for each country of transit be secured for the goods, in the event that the goods are diverted into local use.
Report \| REC Technical Experts on Integrated Border Management September 2011 The first meeting of REC Technical Experts on IBM/CBM took place from the 1st to the 2nd of September, 2011 at the Taj Pamodzi Hotel, Lusaka, Zambia. The meeting was chaired by Mr Peter Malinga, Senior Customs Expert at the COMESA Secretariat. The meeting was attended by Technical Experts on Integrated Border Management / CBM from COMESA, EAC and SADC Secretariats. TradeMark Southern Africa and TradeMark East Africa also participated at the meeting.
Report \| Third Meeting of REC Customs Experts September 2011 The third meeting of REC Customs Experts took place on the 28th and 30th September, 2011 at the Hilton Hotel, Nairobi, Kenya. The meeting was chaired by Mr Peter Malinga, Senior Customs Expert at the COMESA Secretariat. The meeting was attended by Customs Experts from COMESA, EAC and SADC Secretariats. TradeMark Southern Africa also participated at the meeting.
Trade Facilitation in the COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite Free Trade Area September 2011 1The economic integration agenda being implemented at the level of the three Regional Economic Communities of COMESA, EAC and SADC has prioritised programmes addressing trade and transport facilitation challenges with the aim of lowering costs of doing business and improving the competitiveness of products from the eastern and southern African region.
Meeting Report \| Tripartite Steering Committee \| Harmonisation of Third Party Motor Vehicle Insurance August 2011 The meeting Report from the COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite Steering Committee on the Harmonisation of Third Party Motor Vehicle Insurance, held during August 2011 in Lusaka Zambia.
Minutes \| COMESA Task Force Meeting on Transport Liberalisation August 2011 Minutes of the Kick-Off Meeting on the liberalisation of road transport in the Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) region, held at Taj Pamodzi Hotel, Lusaka at 0900 on the 22 August 2011
Preliminary Report \| Harmonisation of Third Party Motor Vehicle Insurance Scheme August 2011 In pursuit of previous discussions, seminars and workshops to consider the best way to harmonize the different approaches to third party liability insurance by COMESA, EAC and SADC countries, the SADC Directorate of Infrastructure and Services, Transport Division convened a meeting of the SADC Task Force on Third Party Motor Vehicle Insurance Scheme in Gaborone, Botswana on 16-17 March 2010. The Task Force comprised of the COMESA Secretariat; SADC Secretariat; FESARTA;
Report \| 3rd Stakeholders Meeting \| Study on the Harmonisation of Vehicle Overload Control Regulations in the EAC Region August 2011 The 3rd Stakeholders Workshop for the Study was held as per the Terms of Reference and the work plan. The objective of the Workshop, held at the Permanent Secretaries Level, was to present to the Permanent Secretaries a summary and key study issues, reach consensus on outstanding issues, review revisions the JICA Study Team will make in preparing the Final Report, to be submitted to the EAC Secretariat on 29th September 2011 and agree on a road map for subsequent activities.
Request for Proposal \| Study on Operationalisation of the JCA August 2011 Yamoussoukro Decision (YD) based on Abuja Treaty, came into force on 12 August 2000 and its primary objective is to pool resources among African States and their airlines with a view to enhancing operation of air services by African airlines through multi-designation of air carriers, deregulation of frequencies, capacity and tariffs, removal of restrictions on traffic rights including 5th Freedom. YD also intends to create a multilateral Executive Agency geared to supervise and enforce liberalization at same time placing responsibility on RECs to implement the principles of YD.
Study \| Harmonisation of Vehicle Overload Control in the East African Community July 2011 Cross-border transport is 3–5 times more expensive in Africa than in Asia and Latin America. For example, truck transport from Mombasa to Kampala over a distance of 1,100 km takes 5 days, of which 19 hours is spent crossing borders and weighbridges. A conservative (low) estimate is that each one-hour reduction in such crossing time would bring USD 7 million per year in benefits to the EAC region. (See Appendix A for estimation details.) The current practice of different axle load and gross vehicle mass (weight) limits among the Partner States is one of the major factors
Background \| Automated System for Secure Electronic Transit (ASSET) May 2011 Background information on the proposed Automated System for Secure Electronic Transit (ASSET), which, if implemented, will ensure that duties and taxes are collected at the port of entry and serve as the guarantee to the transit countries during transit and as the duties payable to country of destination. This bypasses some of the administrative issues and hurdles that the national and regional bond schemes have encountered.
Briefing Document \| The Automated System for Secure Electronic Transit (ASSET) Scheme May 2011
Report \| First Meeting of the Joint Competition Authority May 2011 The 1st meeting of the Tripartite Joint Competition Authority (JCA) took place on the 31st May and 1st June, 2011 at the Cresta Lodge, Gaborone, Botswana. The meeting was preceded by a consultative meeting of the Air Transport experts from COMESA, EAC and SADC Secretariats and TradeMark Southern Africa (TMSA) to prepare draft Terms of Reference for a consultancy for the operationalisation of the JCA.
Presentation \| Integrated Border Management and One-Stop Border Posts March 2011 Presented at the PROINVEST Capacity Building Workshop


Why Trade Facilitation is Important for Africa December 2011 The author of the latest Africa Trade Policy Note, entitled Why trade facilitation is important for Africa, draws extensively on the success of the Chirundu OSBP in arguing that trade facilitation and regional integration are "joint enterprises". The report is written by Barbara Rippel, a senior economist for the World Bank's Africa Region.
Final Report \| Evaluation of the COMESA/SADC Transit Management System September 2011 The COMESA/SADC members, particularly landlocked countries, experience high transport costs in their external trade transactions. For some countries the component of transport costs reaches as high as 55 percent of export costs. Part of these costs relates to the provision and management of Customs bond. This stems from the fact that in the movement of external trade, Customs law requires that a bond for each country of transit be secured for the goods, in the event that the goods are diverted into local use.
Report \| REC Technical Experts on Integrated Border Management September 2011 The first meeting of REC Technical Experts on IBM/CBM took place from the 1st to the 2nd of September, 2011 at the Taj Pamodzi Hotel, Lusaka, Zambia. The meeting was chaired by Mr Peter Malinga, Senior Customs Expert at the COMESA Secretariat. The meeting was attended by Technical Experts on Integrated Border Management / CBM from COMESA, EAC and SADC Secretariats. TradeMark Southern Africa and TradeMark East Africa also participated at the meeting.
Report \| Third Meeting of REC Customs Experts September 2011 The third meeting of REC Customs Experts took place on the 28th and 30th September, 2011 at the Hilton Hotel, Nairobi, Kenya. The meeting was chaired by Mr Peter Malinga, Senior Customs Expert at the COMESA Secretariat. The meeting was attended by Customs Experts from COMESA, EAC and SADC Secretariats. TradeMark Southern Africa also participated at the meeting.
Trade Facilitation in the COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite Free Trade Area September 2011 1The economic integration agenda being implemented at the level of the three Regional Economic Communities of COMESA, EAC and SADC has prioritised programmes addressing trade and transport facilitation challenges with the aim of lowering costs of doing business and improving the competitiveness of products from the eastern and southern African region.
Meeting Report \| Tripartite Steering Committee \| Harmonisation of Third Party Motor Vehicle Insurance August 2011 The meeting Report from the COMESA-EAC-SADC Tripartite Steering Committee on the Harmonisation of Third Party Motor Vehicle Insurance, held during August 2011 in Lusaka Zambia.
Minutes \| COMESA Task Force Meeting on Transport Liberalisation August 2011 Minutes of the Kick-Off Meeting on the liberalisation of road transport in the Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) region, held at Taj Pamodzi Hotel, Lusaka at 0900 on the 22 August 2011
Preliminary Report \| Harmonisation of Third Party Motor Vehicle Insurance Scheme August 2011 In pursuit of previous discussions, seminars and workshops to consider the best way to harmonize the different approaches to third party liability insurance by COMESA, EAC and SADC countries, the SADC Directorate of Infrastructure and Services, Transport Division convened a meeting of the SADC Task Force on Third Party Motor Vehicle Insurance Scheme in Gaborone, Botswana on 16-17 March 2010. The Task Force comprised of the COMESA Secretariat; SADC Secretariat; FESARTA;
Report \| 3rd Stakeholders Meeting \| Study on the Harmonisation of Vehicle Overload Control Regulations in the EAC Region August 2011 The 3rd Stakeholders Workshop for the Study was held as per the Terms of Reference and the work plan. The objective of the Workshop, held at the Permanent Secretaries Level, was to present to the Permanent Secretaries a summary and key study issues, reach consensus on outstanding issues, review revisions the JICA Study Team will make in preparing the Final Report, to be submitted to the EAC Secretariat on 29th September 2011 and agree on a road map for subsequent activities.
Request for Proposal \| Study on Operationalisation of the JCA August 2011 Yamoussoukro Decision (YD) based on Abuja Treaty, came into force on 12 August 2000 and its primary objective is to pool resources among African States and their airlines with a view to enhancing operation of air services by African airlines through multi-designation of air carriers, deregulation of frequencies, capacity and tariffs, removal of restrictions on traffic rights including 5th Freedom. YD also intends to create a multilateral Executive Agency geared to supervise and enforce liberalization at same time placing responsibility on RECs to implement the principles of YD.
Study \| Harmonisation of Vehicle Overload Control in the East African Community July 2011 Cross-border transport is 3–5 times more expensive in Africa than in Asia and Latin America. For example, truck transport from Mombasa to Kampala over a distance of 1,100 km takes 5 days, of which 19 hours is spent crossing borders and weighbridges. A conservative (low) estimate is that each one-hour reduction in such crossing time would bring USD 7 million per year in benefits to the EAC region. (See Appendix A for estimation details.) The current practice of different axle load and gross vehicle mass (weight) limits among the Partner States is one of the major factors
Background \| Automated System for Secure Electronic Transit (ASSET) May 2011 Background information on the proposed Automated System for Secure Electronic Transit (ASSET), which, if implemented, will ensure that duties and taxes are collected at the port of entry and serve as the guarantee to the transit countries during transit and as the duties payable to country of destination. This bypasses some of the administrative issues and hurdles that the national and regional bond schemes have encountered.
Briefing Document \| The Automated System for Secure Electronic Transit (ASSET) Scheme May 2011
Report \| First Meeting of the Joint Competition Authority May 2011 The 1st meeting of the Tripartite Joint Competition Authority (JCA) took place on the 31st May and 1st June, 2011 at the Cresta Lodge, Gaborone, Botswana. The meeting was preceded by a consultative meeting of the Air Transport experts from COMESA, EAC and SADC Secretariats and TradeMark Southern Africa (TMSA) to prepare draft Terms of Reference for a consultancy for the operationalisation of the JCA.
Presentation \| Integrated Border Management and One-Stop Border Posts March 2011 Presented at the PROINVEST Capacity Building Workshop