Reforms needed to smoothen cross-border trade � BURS
Isaac Pinielo | Thursday April 27, 2017 15:18
Customs general manager at the Botswana Unified Revenue Service (BURS), Buhalo Mudongo said this during a public lecture on the Trans-Kalahari Corridor (TKC) held at the University of Botswana conference centre this week.
The TKC is a road network spanning the territories of South Africa, Botswana and Namibia, right through to the Port of Walvis Bay.
Mudongo said one of the most important complementary policies is to put in place a well-functioning trade facilitation framework that provides traders with transparent, predictable, and speedy clearance of goods and travellers across borders.
He said a poorly functioning trade facilitation framework can effectively negate the improvements that have been made in other areas of the economy.
“In Botswana like other countries around the world, we continue to face changes to our trade-facilitation environment which emphasise the need to reform and modernise our processes,” Mudongo said.
He stated that these include increased trade volumes, more sophisticated and demanding clients, such as traders who have invested significantly in modern logistics, inventory control, manufacturing, and information systems.
He also emphasised the need for greater policy and procedural requirements associated with international commitments, proliferation of regional and bilateral trade agreements, which he said significantly increase the complexity of administering border formalities and controls.
“There are also heightened security concerns and demands to respond to the threats posed by international terrorism and transnational organised crime, and widespread revenue fraud,” Mudongo said.
Citing Statistics Botswana, the general manager said in 2013 Botswana’s imports were valued at P70.2 billion and exports were valued at P66.4 billion.
He said these figures stood at P72.4 billion for imports and P76.2 billion for exports in 2014 demonstrating an increase.
“Each one of these import and export transactions passed through our ports of entry and exit. These growing trade volumes continually place pressure on the government to review its trade-facilitation landscape,” he added.
He said the BURS therefore developed a five-year strategic plan that commenced in April 2014 and will end in March 2019.
Entitled Trans-Kalahari Corridor: Unlocking Trade Opportunities between Botswana, Namibia, and South Africa, the lecture was in the form of a roundtable discussion to explore opportunities along the TKC with presenters coming from its Secretariat, Namibian Port Authority (Namport), Walvis Bay Port, and BURS.