Northern Corridor Enhancing Implementation of COMESA Trade Facilitation Instruments

The Northern Corridor Transit Agreement (NCTA) was signed on 19 th February 1985 in Bujumbura, Burundi, by Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. And later in 1987 the former Republic of Zaire (currently the Democratic Republic of Congo) ratified the Agreement in order to facilitate the imports and exports of landlocked countries in the East and Central African region through Mombasa port in Kenya.

It is gratifying to note that the five Member States of the Northern Corridor are also members of COMESA's economic region and apply the instruments put in place by COMESA. After the testing of the Customs Transit Bond along the Northern Corridor last September, the COMESA experts' team and the one from the Transit Transport Coordination Authority (TTCA) made a visit on site to take stock of the implementation of the COMESA's transit transport facilitation instruments in the Northern Corridor.

It is worthwhile to note that, in the framework of the implementation of its economic policy integration, COMESA has set up a number of transit transport facilitation instruments in order to reduce transport costs in doing business among the Member Countries. Among the instruments the following can be listed:

(i) COMESA Customs Declaration Form known as DD-Com.

(ii) Regional Customs Transit Bond Guarantee Scheme.

(iii) COMESA Carrier License.

(iv)Harmonized Road Transport Charges.

(v) Harmonized Axle Load Limits.

(vi) Third-party Motor Vehicle Insurance Scheme (Yellow Card).

These instruments constitute only a sample among many other instruments put in place by COMESA.

It was noted that the execution of these instruments is very poor. In order to assess the level of execution of these instruments in the Member States, COMESA and TTCA have initiated, with the support of USAID, a programme for the execution of the transit transport facilitation instruments, hence the Northern Corridor has been selected as a pilot corridor. With regard to the implementation of this programme, it was decided that an inventory be carried out on the execution of these instruments in the Member States along the Northern Corridor. Consultants have been appointed at the national level in each country in order to enhance the level of application and recommend the way forward to speed up the use of these instruments.

In December 2007, national seminars were held in Nairobi for Kenyan stakeholders and then in Kampala for Ugandan stakeholders. Participants considered the results of the studies and formulated recommendations on the measures to be taken. Similar seminarshave been held in Goma, Kigali and Bujumbura in March/April 2007. A regional seminar will take place in June during which an approved programme will be presented to Member States for implementation. The experience gained in the Member States of the Northern Corridor will be taken into consideration as a model in other COMESA countries.