By Kondanani Chilimunthaka
Two sister nations of Malawi and Zambia have finally commissioned the Mchinji-Mwami One Stop Border Post that will ease the movement of goods between them and facilitate growth of their economies.
Speaking on Wednesday, December 7,2022 during the official inauguration of the OSBP of Mchinji-Mwami in Mchinji, President Lazarus Chakwera described it as good news to many sectors of the Society living in the two countries.
“This indeed is a great day for Malawi and Zambia, presiding over the official opening of this One Stop Border Post with my dear brother, His Excellency, Hakainde Hichilema, President of the Republic of Zambia is no mere event. It is an historic mile stone worth celebration. This One Stop Border Post is good news for travellers, good news for traders, good news for our economies, good news for regional cultural and economic integration, it is good news for investors, it is good news for harmony and solidarity.”Said President Lazarus Chakwera.
President Chakwera further said the OSBP has brought six other benefits to the two nations which include convenience, stream-line processes, professional trust, reduced border delays, promoting coordination in facilitation of trade, and accordance of dignity to the people from the two sister nations.
President Chakwera who said that the relationship between the two countries is so strong and deep that goes beyond the border between the countries told the gathering that the two sister nations enjoy many things in common and that the opening of the OSBP has deepen the relationship as well as bilateral ties between Malawi and Zambia while proposing that there is a need for use of national IDs as a cross-border permit for the people of the two countries.
Malawi leader then outlined plans to have similar facilities at Malawi borders with Tanzania and also with Mozambique at Chiponde and Muloza, as it has been already done in Dedza, saying the newly inaugurated One Stop Border Post in Mchinji is a model for the others to be constructed.
Chakwera then thanked the African Development Bank for credit support to the two countries for construction of the facility, EU, UK and Germany through COMESA, and GIZ for their support towards the development.
Making his remarks, Zambian President, Hakainde Hichilema said the OSBP is of vital importance as a far as growth of the economies for the two countries is concerned.
He added that apart from benefiting the two countries, the One-Stop Border Post will ease the movement of goods from other countries, adding that there is a need to facilitate Non-Stop Border Post so that goods are scanned long way before their destination in the future.
Hichilema further said time has come for the two sister nations to start investing together for the benefit of the citizens from the two countries.
