The World Customs Organization (WCO) provided capacity building to enhance Coordinated Border Management (CBM) and Data Standardization during a two-week in-country mission from 19 to 30 August 2024 in Lusaka. The representative of the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry, who serves as the Chairperson of the National Committee on Trade Facilitation (NTFC), underlined the Zambian Government’s devotion to implementing the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement, fostering international trade and implementing non-stop borders. They also appreciated the continuous multi-year support from the WCO Accelerate Trade Facilitation Programme funded by His Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) of the United Kingdom (UK).
The key outcome of the Workshop was the support to Zambia in mapping its border control processes, thus enabling the reduction of government agencies present at the border from over 18 at large border crossings to the legislated six. The Workshop brought together representatives from all border authorities under the auspices of the Zambia NTFC to collaborate on the delegation of border controls and coordinating information among the agencies in Zambia’s quest for a “non-stop border”.
Building on the virtual sessions for an inter-agency regulatory standard framework by mapping and designing the business process models for border controls, the CBM Working Group also focused on harmonizing and standardizing documentary requirements among government agencies to enable digitalization and a coordinated information flow (CIF). This exercise, conducted using the WCO Data Model Application, resulted in a comprehensive and harmonized national data catalogue aligned with the WCO Data Model to facilitate communications among border agencies. The WCO CBM capacity building support provides an essential building block and compliments the broader support by the World Bank Group on CBM as part of the longer trade facilitation journey of Zambia.
During the closing ceremony, the NTFC expressed heartfelt gratitude to the WCO team, including officers from Botswana, Germany, Namibia and Lesotho, who generously shared their experience in the context of the peer-to-peer exchange under the Accelerate Trade Facilitation partnership. The Acting Deputy Commissioner of Customs, Ms. Chikumbi Chama, noted that CBM cuts across agency lines and serves as the foundation of integrated risk management while also supporting the success of the Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) programme launched at the end of 2023. She concluded that all Workshop participants would be championing CBM going forward.
The WCO looks forward to its continued partnership with Zambia for sustainable development and economic growth under the Accelerate Trade Facilitation Programme.
See for more information on the ‘Accelerate Trade Facilitation’ Programme here.
For more information on WCO capacity building, please contact Capacity.Building@wcoomd.org.