A very successful regional workshop on Transit for the WCO Members from the East and Southern Africa (ESA) region was conducted from 22 to 24 November 2017 in Johannesburg, South Africa. The regional event was delivered by experts from the WCO, the World Bank’s Africa Transport Policy Programme (SSATP) and the International Road Transport Union (IRU) and was attended by more than 70 participants from over 50 entities – Member Customs Administrations, Regional Economic Communities, Corridor Management Institutions, Industry associations, private sector entities, the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) and the African Development Bank (AfDB).

In interactive sessions, the WCO set the scene by presenting the guiding principles for the establishment of efficient and effective transit regimes as outlined in the various sections of the WCO Transit Guidelines and the participants shared and discussed good practices, challenges and measures for further improvement of the various aspects of transit in the region. Highly informative and interesting presentations were delivered by the Secretariats of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the East African Community (EAC), as well as the Northern Corridor Transit and Transport Coordination Authority, the Maputo Corridor Logistics Initiative (MCLI) and other stakeholders.

The regional workshop for the ESA region is the first in a series of regional workshops to be delivered by the WCO with the objective of promoting the implementation of the recently launched Transit Guidelines launched and the establishment by Members of efficient and effective transit regimes in their territories.