Minister of Trade and Industry Simplex Chithyola Banda has expressed optimism over improved cross-border trade following the launch of the Coordinated Border Management (CBM) system.
The system will help ease and hasten the process of clearing goods at border posts, among other things.
Chithyola Banda was speaking on Friday at the launch of the pilot project at Mwanza Border Post.
Prior to the launch, the country’s borders used to have 13 government agents for importers to go through to clear their good. But under the system, this has been reduced to five under the system.
Chithyola Banda said the streamlining of the authorities will reduce the time that an importer needs to spend at the border when confirming about the goods to all the authorities.
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He said this also gives Malawi a competitive edge under the Africa Continental Free Trade Area.
“We are not operating in isolation and with the Africa Continental Free Trade Area now in full force, we need also to simplify how things are done in borders that is why we have introduced this so that all the transactions here should be coordinated,” Banda said.
The project is being implemented with funding from the World Bank’s International Funding Corporation, whose representative William Mwanza said would make a difference.
“We would like to reaffirm our commitment to continue supporting this process and to supporting the trade facilitation agenda more broadly through other interventions,” Mwanza said.
