TZ, Zambia deepen transport, trade collaboration

By ALLY MAYALA

ZAMBIA: Zambia and Tanzania have expressed their commitment to collaborating in enhancing containerized cargo transportation and trade between the two neighboring countries.

Zambia’s Minister for Transport and Logistics, Mr Frank Tayali, disclosed his country’s determination to foster transportation with neighboring countries, including Tanzania, last Thursday while closing the third Land-Linked Zambia Transport and Logistics Conference held in Lusaka.

Mr Tayali said the move aims to boost economic growth with neighboring countries. He mentioned that Zambia complements regional development plans as the strategic link of the corridor network in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), using its land-linked status to facilitate trade and serve its neighbors.

Tanzania’s Ambassador to Zambia, Lieutenant General Mathew Mkingule, speaking at the side-line of the conference on behalf of the Minister for Transport, Professor Makame Mbarawa, said the conference enabled Tanzania to create visibility to various transport infrastructures available.

He explained that the key infrastructures promoted at the conference were the Air Tanzania Company Limited’s (ATCL) aircraft and ports under TPA.

“As we know, every business requires transport infrastructures. We conveyed our message on Tanzania’s economic infrastructures, including the Dar es Salaam and Mtwara ports, and other ports in our major lakes such as Lake Victoria, Tanganyika, and Nyasa,” he said.

He mentioned that Tanzania has reduced charges to neighboring countries, including Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Malawi, and Zimbabwe to boost trade.

Lieutenant General Mkingule said Tanzania further outlined its roads connecting with Zambia as well as the TAZARA Railway.

For his part, the Representative of the Tanzania Ports Authority in Zambia (TPA), Mr. Hamisi Chambari, said the symposium enabled the authority to meet with SADC’s member states, including Zambia, among other transport stakeholders who use Tanzania’s ports.

Mr Chambari said TPA is ready to cooperate with all stakeholders, including traders and business institutions of the neighboring countries, to elevate the Eastern, Central, and Southern African economies.

He said the conference enabled the authority to familiarize with customers’ wants and use them as the benchmark to improve service delivery.

The two-day conference, themed “Connecting Zambia and SADC by land to facilitate trade, investments, and ease of movement of goods and people,” which kicked off on April 4 this year, brought a diverse group of transport sector institutions, including TPA as a co-sponsor.

The conference was a call to action for SADC member countries in the advent of the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA) to explore transport corridors and business partnerships within and beyond Zambia for seamless movements of goods and services.