Download May-June 2009 issue - Walvis Bay Corridor Group

THE WALVIS BAY-NDOLA-LUBUMBASHI CORRIDORON THE RISE4trade; developing adequate, reliable, cost-effective,efficient and seamless transport, telecommunicationsand energy systems so that the corridor is a competitiveinvestment area; and to ensure that the developmentin the Corridor takes place in an environmentallysustainable manner.The delegates from Zambia informed the meetingthat customs clearance at Katima Mulilo has improvedand that the Zambia Revenue Authority is in aprocess of procuring scanners for all the major borderA Walvis Bay-Ndola-Lubumbashi Technical Committee( WBNL ) meeting was held recently at ProteaHotel Pelican Bay in Walvis Bay, Namibia. This followsthe first meeting that was held at the Governor ’s office of the Katanga Region, which took place inSeptember 2008. The objective of the tripartite meetingwas to finalise the MOU of the WBNL betweenthe Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic ofNamibia and the Republic of Zambia before it is presentedto the Committees of Permanent Secretariesand Ministers responsible for transport for their approvaland signing. The meeting was attended byinstitutions from the public and private sector from theGovernments of the Democratic Republic of Congo,Republic of Namibia and the Republic of Zambia.posts in Zambia which would assist in speedy clearingof cargo. Furthermore, the Government of theDRC approved the extension of VISAs from 7 days to14 days.The Ministry of Transport, DRC further added thatthe objectives of the TOR and MOU were to facilitatedevelopment of the Walvis Bay –Ndola – LubumbashiCorridor ( Trans Caprivi Corridor ) in order tooptimize and foster cross-border trade and Transit-Transport Cooperation among the three countries;give landlocked countries of Zambia and the DRCunimpeded access through Namibia ’ s territory tothe Port of Walvis Bay; and Develop a spatial developmentinitiative aimed at developing socio-economicareas.The purpose of the agreement is aimed at addressingbottlenecks hindering trade along the Walvis Bay-Ndola-Lubumbashi corridor with a view to foster increasedeconomic activity through the promotion ofThe Trans Caprivi Corridor has become the popularalternative in terms of imports and exports throughthe Port of Walvis Bay to Zambia and the DRC. Thisis evident in the fact that cargo volumes have in-The leading trade route in southern Africa