COMESA under the 53 Million Euro, 11 European Development Fund (EDF) funded project is conducting a consultative meeting to identify the gaps that Zambia has in the implementation of activities under the COMESA trade facilitation programme.
The objective of meeting is to discuss and agree with coordinating ministries and relevant key stakeholders of the targeted Member States on modalities to transform the indicative list of activities implementation of the work plan for the next fiscal year (November 2019 to November 2020).
This is in line with indicative border specific activities indicated in the Description of the Action (DOA) as well as receive inputs and way forward for the sub-delegation agreement. Also to be addressed are inputs for preparation of the 2019/20 work plans and budgets for activities to be implemented at the five border posts.
Participants to the two-day workshop have been drawn from Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry, Ministry of Finance, Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA), Immigration, Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Health, and Ministry of Public Works, among others.
The meeting being held at Sandy’s Creation in Lusaka from 5-6 February 2020 is expected to create an enhanced understanding of the scope and expected outcomes of the project by the country, review and agreed on border specific activities for support planned under the EDF11-TFP and collect inputs to develop the country action plan.
It is also expected that the meeting will agree on institutional and project management arrangements for implementation of the activities under the sub-delegation agreement.
The workshop was officially opened by the director of foreign trade in the Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry Ms. Lillian Bwalya. EDF Programme Coordinator Mshuka Kamwela made remarks on behalf of COMESA.
COMESA Secretariat on 20 November 2018, signed an Agreement with the European Union for the COMESA Trade Facilitation Programme (TFP) to be funded under the 11th European Development Fund (EDF11).
The Programme aims to support the implementation of identified trade facilitation related activities that will contribute to deepening regional integration, improving inclusive regional economic growth and enhancing competitiveness of the region.
Similar consultative meetings have also been conducted in Zimbabwe, Malawi, Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti.