Coordinated Border Management

The first Southern African regional conference, “21st Century Trade Facilitation Tools: Increasing International Competitiveness,” took place from September 10-11, 2012 in Johannesburg. The conference was attended by delegates from a variety of Southern African countries and focused on modern tools to ease the flow of goods between countries, increase trade, generate economic growth and create jobs. The conference was hosted by the United States Agency of International Development (USAID) and the World Customs Organization (WCO), and organized by the USAID Southern African Trade Hub.

The purpose of this conference, "21st Century Trade Facilitation Tools: Increasing International Competitiveness", was to share proven trade facilitation tools (national single window, customs connectivity, coordinated border management and one stop border posts) and programs that are being used with positive results by countries around the globe to increase their competitiveness and their Doing Business/Trading Across Border Indices with the view of encouraging more countries in Southern Africa to understand and benefit from these tools.

As part of its Coordinated Border Management (CBM) program, SATH undertook a BOA at Ressano Garcia along the Mozambique/South Africa border. The objective of the assessment was to establish processes used by the different agencies to clear goods, identify challenges and recommend mechanisms to addresses obstacles. The assessment also entailed establishing the time it took for trucks to cross the border by physically recording arrival and departure times at points where the clearance of goods was undertaken.

To remove delays caused by lengthy and uncoordinated physical examinations of goods, border agencies at Nakonde, in northern Zambia, commenced joint physical examination of goods on May 1, 2012. This is expected to significantly reduce the amount of time it takes for the clearance of goods going out of the country.

GABORONE - The main objective of the integrated border management operations is to have all agencies involved in the clearance of goods at border posts to conduct their work in a coordinated and structured manner and to work as a unit to cut down on the time of goods clearance.

The senior Transport and Trade Facilitation Advisor for Southern Africa Trade Hub (SATH), Mr Goodwin Punungwe, said a recent study showed time of crossing borders could be reduced by 58 per cent through better coordination among border agencies and a further 25 per cent with better coordination between the two adjacent borders.

Mr Punungwe said a number of agencies were responsible for the clearance of goods at border posts.

These include customs, immigration, agriculture, health and security departments and many others as may be mandated by the different governments.

He said clearance of goods at border posts was a painstakingly slow process for traders who have to meet all the necessary procedures as set by all these different agencies.

Generally, each border agency formulates its own policies and strategies for carrying out its mandate and do not share these with their colleagues who are equally responsible for goods clearance at the border.

He said these result in some duplication of efforts where you find, for example, the health and agriculture agencies carrying out individual inspections on a similar product instead of carrying out a joint inspection.

Mr Punungwe said the high transportation costs were a major contributor to the high cost of goods in the region.

Through various studies, it has been estimated that in some SADC countries, transport and logistics costs contribute more than 50 per cent of the product cost compared to only eight per cent in other parts of the world. This makes the SADC region less competitive.

The more time the goods take to reach their destination, the higher the cost and it had been estimated that it costs close to P4 000 for each day a truck was delayed at the border in terms of truck fixed costs. These costs are passed on to consumers.

Therefore, the more time spent at the border the higher the transport costs and the less time spent at the borders, the lower the transport costs, he said.

Mr Punungwe said to date, SATH has not introduced the integrated border management programme between Botswana/Namibia and South Africa borders.

The organisation is working with Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique on the programme.

Other measures aimed at reducing the time and cost of goods crossing are under implementation or development such as customs connectivity at the Mamuno/Trans Kgalagadi borders and National Single Window for Botswana and Namibia.

Mr Punungwe said the programme was yielding results, especially in Malawi where it was implemented first; and it is advanced in other countries. BOPA

From November 16-23, a SATH team conducted workshops in Lusaka, Kasumbalesa and Nakonde to introduce the Integrated Border Management (IBM) program and establish Joint Border Committees at the Kasumbalesa and Nakonde Border Posts.

The main goal of the IBM program is to reduce the time goods take to cross borders and concomitantly reduce the cost of trade. The IBM program plans to achieve this by empowering institutions and agencies that are responsible for trade facilitation, such as Ministries of Trade and Industry, Corridor Management Institutions (CMIs), as well as Joint Border Committees (JBC) established through this program.

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Efficient border management requires effective coordination between customs services and all government and private sector agencies with customs-related responsibilities.

Working with the Malawi Ministry of Trade in Industry, SATH held workshops in Blantyre as well as at the Songwe and Mwanza border posts to establish Joint Border Committees (JBCs) and come up with preliminary road maps for their activities. At Mwanza the Clearing and Freight Forwarding Agents' Association will head up the JBC and at Songwe it will be the Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA). SATH will return in November for follow-up workshops and to flesh out the JBC work plans.