In my last Ministerial Column Article, we focused our discussion on how the Ministry was leveraging on the existing good will and partnerships with cooperating partners to improve the trade facilitation and logistics landscape in Zambia. In today’s article we continue to look at the subject of trade facilitation, albeit, from the periphery and context of Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Measures. Specifically this discussion is narrowed to risk assessment and management.
From the onset, I wish to acknowledge the fact that the subject of risk assessment and management is highly technical and scientific in nature and cuts across many key prominent disciplines. In view of this observation, I will endeavour to limit my submission to those which hinge on trade related issues. As I do so, reference is made to key World Trade Organisation (WTO) Agreements, namely the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement and the SPS Agreement and the interventions the Ministry has been making in ensuring that there was productive co-existence and joint actions by Border Agencies.
As the principle Ministry deposited with the function, through the Border Management and Trade Facilitation Act of 2018 (BMTFA), to ensure effective coordinated border management and control of movement and clearance of goods, we are eager to play a meaningful role in ensuring that productive coexistence among border officials is the bedrock of their work. Therefore, having a more inclusive and coordinated process which result in convergence among Ministries and border agencies on decisions related interdiction and selectivity is at the core of the Ministry’s work. Additionally, the Ministry’s work is also premised on the need to ensure identification, management and communication processes of risks associated with tradable food products, is an inherent component of border agency’s work.
Despite the recorded improvements on border coordination and application of risk assessment and management tenets, our diagnosis of the matter in the recent months shows that a lot more needs to be done. Numerous complaints are eminent from Zambian traders mainly on the long dwell time they were experiencing at key borders. This development, other than it leading to increased cost of doing business, was also negating efforts towards attaining the much envisaged conducive trade facilitation environment which was trade enhancing.
Indisputably, tradable commodities attract multiple regulations and thus subjected to manifold inspections by agencies. While customs is concerned primarily with regulations related to duties and taxes, there is a host of other regulatory requirements which hinge on security, public safety and health. Application of these controls in an uncoordinated manner remains detrimental to trade facilitation.
In light of this and bearing in mind the Ministry’s mandate as espoused in the BMTFA of 2018, the Ministry has been making efforts towards ensuring that regulatory authorities calibrate their border coordination efforts and responses to counter risks associated with imports and exports. At the core of these efforts, the Ministry has also been investing its efforts towards enhancing the risk assessment framework, both at border and inland, through various means.
As discussed in my preceding article, my Ministry, through the 11th European Development Fund (EDF) COMESA Trade Facilitation funded Zambia Border Posts Upgrading Project (ZBPUP), has commenced reconstituting the Joint Border Coordinating Committees (JBCs) with a view to strengthen collaboration and coordination between border agencies. As reported, the Chirundu and Nakonde JBCs were reconstituted within the month of April 2022 while JBC for Mwami is planned for May 2022. The Ministry is expected to replicate these efforts to other key borders.
Besides the foregoing, the Ministry supported the University of Zambia (UNZA), working in collaboration with other key stakeholders, to develop and integrate a post graduate course on risk assessment on food safety in the School of Veterinary Sciences. This course, developed through support through another European Union (EU) funded Southern African Development Community (SADC) Trade Related Facility Project (TRF), cover topics such as Disease Quantitative Risk Analysis, Qualitative Import Risk Analysis, Qualitative Import Risk Analysis and Probability and Probability Distribution.
Building on this development and leveraging on further funding received through the ZBPUP, a number of trainings have been undertaken for both industry players and border officials. Notably, training sessions for key border officials at Chirundu, Mwami and Nakonde border posts have been undertaken. These trainings, whose objectives hinged on improving border agency efficiency and capability and enhancing understanding on SPS and trade issues, saw participation from key SPS, Public health and customs related institutions. In Chirundu, 37 participants were trained while in Mwami 40 were trained. In Nakonde, the total number of participants trained were 31.
To ensure optimal output of the training, a fusion of highly qualified Zambian facilitators were engaged to deliver these trainings using the modules developed. These professionals were drawn from the UNZA, Ministry of Health, National Livestock Epidemiology and Information Centre (NALEIC), Zambia Bureau of Standards (ZABs), the Plant, Quarantine and Phytosanitary Services PQPS. This multi-disciplinary approach was used with a view to have both theoretical and practical aspects to the trainings.
Undeniably, these trainings remain a springboard towards achieving the much needed desire by Government to have an integrated risk management framework for border officials. An integrated and holistic risk management approach has been recommended in the World Customs Organisation (WCO) Risk Management Compendium as a key vehicle through which coordinated border controls and collective vetting of risks can be enhanced.
With the advent of the Single Window concept which is not alien to Zambia, customs and other government agencies (OGAs) will need to be brought together to work on a single platform and architecture. The key underlying elements for this architecture will be the need for effective communication, increased collaboration and coordinated interventions to keep the balance between trade facilitation and border control.
I am aware that we the process of operationalizing the single window concept is underway and there have been teething challenges. I pledge my full support to ensure its full operationalisation. It is Government’s desire to ensure that there is productive co-existence and joint actions by Border Agencies on risk assessment and management. This remains a key remedy towards improved trade facilitation for tradable food products
The author is the Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry (MCTI).
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