Mozambique and Zambia may soon install a one-stop border

Maputo, 1 Jul (AIM) – Mozambique and Zambia may soon install a one-stop border post operating 24 hours a day, in order to boost trade and business between the two countries.

According to Mozambican President, Filipe Nyusi, who shared the information with reporters, on Saturday, when taking stock of his three-day visit to Zambia, the border post will join Chanida, on the Zambian side, and Cassacatiza, on the Mozambican side.

“We decided to speed up the process of building one-stop border posts because the Zambian economy is very positive and therefore wants to develop from our ports. Once this project has materialized, the two countries will move on to setting up other borders and improving infrastructure”, the President said.

However, the memorandum of understanding for implementing this project was not signed during this visit because, according to Nyusi, Mozambique has “a measured and unhurried way of doing things.”

“The memorandum could have been signed now, but my country has the advantage of doing things properly, not emotionally or hastily. But it will be signed very soon”, he said.

Another structuring project is the construction of dry ports which will boost rail transport, because “dry ports are vital for Zambia, as a landlocked country that wants to adopt strategies to make its goods more competitive, something that involves reducing transport costs.”

Nyusi also explained that increasing the volume of electricity exported to Zambia was one of the points on the agenda during the visit, and resources have been mobilized for the construction of an electricity interconnection between the two countries.

Both countries also discussed co-operation for better exploitation of mineral resources, as well as joint management of the countries’ water resources.

Nyusi also thanked Zambia for its support for the SADC Military Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM) which, from 2021 until this year, had assisted the Mozambican defence and security forces in the fight against islamist terrorism in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.

He said that Mozambique will continue to count on Zambian support and that his Zambian counterpart, Hakainde Hichelema, had told him that Mozambique should not worry about its border with Zambia, since it would be impassable to any terrorist group that wanted to cross into Mozambique.

(AIM)

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