If African Governments want to make significant progress in boosting regional integration they will have to make more effort to address the problem of lack of implementation of regional agreements.

This is one of the key points stated in the recently released 2013 Economic Development in Africa Report entitled ‘Intra-African Trade: Unlocking Private Sector Dynamism’ by   UNCTAD, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

Barbara Mommen, CEO of the Maputo Corridor Logistics Initiative (MCLI) says, “The Maputo Corridor suffers daily from this failure to follow through with the implementation of regional agreements. Despite being cited in the UNCTAD report on page 111 as an ‘important case study of a successful development corridor’, the corridor has yet to have the 2007 Heads of State agreement on a 24 hour operation implemented. This is the single biggest factor inhibiting the potential economic growth, efficiency and predictability of trade and investment on the Maputo Corridor being realised. It is also the single biggest factor in adding delays and costs to what is potentially one of the most efficient transport corridors in Southern Africa. And it is a prime example of how the failure to follow through on agreements inhibits economic growth, investment, industrialisation, growth and job creation in a region with dire poverty and joblessness.”

It was six years ago at the Heads of State Economic Bilateral Commission at the Presidential Guesthouse in Pretoria, then President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, and Mozambican President, Armando Guebuza, co-chaired a meeting to discuss the consolidation of bilateral trade and economic relations between South Africa and Mozambique with a view to advancing the African trade agenda. Included on the agenda was the following item:

•             Border posts and developments since the Mozambican and South African authorities agreed on 3 June 2005 that the main border post between the two countries, at Ressano Garcia, should remain open for 24 hours a day

Mommen adds, “The lack of seriousness with which the South African government, in particular, regards this matter, is profoundly worrying and begs the question of its integrity in committing to regional agreements. It is time for the real challenges on the ground to be given the gravity they deserve. It is not acceptable, given the pressure of trade growth on the Maputo Corridor, along with the severe need for broadening economic growth on this corridor, that this agreement has not been implemented more than 6 years down the line.”

Concluding, “The MCLI continues to lobby to ensure that this agreement is implemented and will continue to raise the matter at every available platform and at the highest level to ensure that the Maputo Corridor can achieve its potential as a development corridor.”