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The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), through support of the European Union has commenced construction of the border market at Chirundu estimated at over €900,000.
Matthias Reusing, Team Leader , European Green Deal, Rural Development and Trade, noted that small-scale cross-border trade holds important social and economic development implications for Africa.
Reusing revealed this during the ground breaking ceremony on Friday at Chirundu Boarder.
He said with this, the EU supports COMESA’s regional integration agenda through the concrete steps taken by Zimbabwe and Zambia to facilitate trade between them and among regional partners.
“COMESA, with financial support from the EU has been implementing the Small-Scale Cross Border Trade Initiative since 2018,” Reusing stated.
He added that this was being done with the principal aim to increase small scale cross-border trade flows in the tripartite region by moving from informal to formal trade.
Reusing said the EU was doing this in targeted countries through effective policy and governance reforms, institutional capacity building, and improved border infrastructure.
“Across the continent, many small-scale traders cross borders every day to sell goods or services in a neighbouring country,” he noted.
Reusing said small scale cross border trade had been estimated at up to 60 percent of all intra-regional trade and between 30-40 percent of total intra-Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) trade.
He stated that small-scale cross-border trade contributes to poverty reduction by generating revenue for families and communities in the border areas.
“The EU under the Small Scale Border Trade Initiative programme is providing similar support for infrastructure development at borders between Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia and Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia and Kenya,” Reusing said.
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Acting COMESA Secretary-General, Dav Haman, stated that under the Small-Scale Cross Border Trade Initiative, COMESA was also supporting the implementation of the Simplified Trade Regime (STR), which significantly enhanced the ease of doing business in cross-border markets.
“The primary aim of the STR is to make cross-border trade more accessible and feasible for small and informal traders who may face challenges with complex trade regulations,” he emphasized.
Zimbabwe’s Deputy Minister of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development, Jennifer Mhlanga’s representative, Francis Gondo said the inadequacy of workspace situation had impacted negatively on the operations of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises.
Gondo noted that it had resulted in high rentals which are uncompetitive leading them to shun such workspaces and opting for open spaces.
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