Story by Oleen Ndori, Foreign Editor
THE government is set to construct a warehouse at the Zimbabwe Dry Port in Walvis Bay, Namibia, to handle more import-export opportunities and grow the country’s foreign currency earnings.
In 2019, President Emmerson Mnangagwa commissioned the Walvis Bay Dry Port as part of efforts to increase trade between Zimbabwe and the rest of the world as the promotion of trade and investment is a key target of the Second Republic’s National Development Strategy One (NDS1).
Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister, Professor Amon Murwira, National Handling Services Board Chairperson, Advocate Godwin Nyengedza, along with ZimTrade Chief Executive Officer, Mr Allan Majuru toured the facility this Wednesday to assess progress made since its commissioning.
Advocate Nyengedza said when fully operational and equipped, the port will play a significant role in enhancing trade.
“As the National Handling Services which has the privilege of operating the Zimbabwe dry port, we handle imports and exports as part of international trade, for people exporting their goods from Zimbabwe so that the country can earn foreign currency and also goods that are required in Zimbabwe coming in through this port,” he said.
“The dry port is pretty much for facilitation of clearing and transportation through the Trans-Kalahari route and also, it just does not end with Zimbabwe, there are certain countries also in the region that were previously landlocked but now because of the dry port, they are land-linked. So Zimbabwe can actually facilitate handling and exporting to other markets through the dry port.”
Professor Murwira concurred the dry port is vital in the achievement of trade and investment aspirations of government.
“Our visit today was basically to see how we can increase the infrastructure here so that we can handle more imports and exports via this route. It is a good and safe route. Namibia did a very good thing for us by giving us access to this dry port,” he said.
“Our visit here will be followed by action because we have a regional warehousing strategy being pursued by Zimtrade, facilitated by NHS. We had a meeting with Zimtrade, NHS, officials from the Ministry of Transport, officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, facilitated by our Ambassador to the Republic of Namibia, to actually have a common strategy which is going to be followed by an implementation plan to make sure that we have improved warehousing facilities here, as well as encourage Zimbabweans to start using this route to access markets in West Africa, in North America, in South America and in the Caribbean. This is the place, and this is the route.”
Zimbabwe obtained a 50-year lease for the construction of the dry port infrastructure and the project is in line with the SADC Protocol on Transport, Communication, and Meteorology, which seeks to remove
economic barriers by promoting trade.
Zimbabwe and Namibia have worked on a range of regional integration initiatives under the SADC Vision 2050 and Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan 2020-2030, which were endorsed by the 40th Ordinary SADC Summit on August 17, 2021.
One of the three pillars of the SADC Vision 2050 is infrastructure development to enable regional integration, which Zimbabwe and Namibia are pursuing through programmes such as port rehabilitation.
