TKCS launches joint law enforcement operation

SWAKOPMUND, SEPT. 13 – The Trans Kalahari Corridor Secretariat (TKCS) launched a three-day Joint Law Enforcement Operation on the B2 road outside Swakopmund on Wednesday.
The operation, which is the seventh, consists of close to 80 law enforcers of member states – Namibia, Botswana and South Africa – and is aimed at, amongst others, simplifying cross-border transaction and customs operations along the TKC.
Minister of Works and Transport, John Mutorwa, in a speech read on his behalf, termed the initiative as an important first step in implementing non-tariff barriers, among other factors.
“The global economy is still far from the ideal model of a barrier-free market and free from trade barriers as it is noted in the Doha Development Wake Programme,” said Mutorwa.
He noted that tariff barriers erected at the borders and within countries have been reduced considerably in the course of successive trade negotiations following the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and World Trade Organisations rules.
The minister emphasised the operation’s aim of achieving deeper regional integration, which is key for economic development.
“The work programme of the TKC Management Committee (TKCMC) includes the simplification of procedures and the harmonisation of regulations that are key in achieving the envisaged deeper regional integration.”
TKCS Executive Director Leslie Mpofu added that one of the TKCMC’s objectives is the integration of trade, transport, logistics and travel systems of the three counties to provide quality services at minimal cost, thereby increasing competitiveness of the Southern African Development Community region and Southern African Customs Union.
He noted that the committee is also cognisant of the fact that transport operators and traders choose their routes based on performance of corridors.
The TKC was jointly officially developed by the three governments in 1998, followed by a Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2003 and comprises of a tarred road linking the Port of Walvis Bay with Botswana and the industrial powerhouse of Gauteng in South Africa.
The corridor stretches over 1 900 kilometres from Walvis Bay-Windhoek-Gaborone-Johannesburg/Pretoria.
It is supported by a railway line from the Port of Walvis Bay to Gobabis (via Windhoek), where transhipment facilities are available, before continuing from Lobatse in Botswana.
This is the second time Namibia is hosting the operation, after the first time in 2017.
NAMPA