AFR RI-Great Lakes Trade Facilitation

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The objective of this Great Lakes Trade Facilitation Project for Africa is to facilitate cross-border trade by increasing the capacity for commerce and reducing the costs faced by traders, especially small-scale and women traders, at targeted locations in the borderlands. There are four components to the project, the first component being improving core trade infrastructure and facilities in the border areas. The project will finance improvements to core trade infrastructure and facilities at specific land border crossing points, and an airport in Rwanda that is of regional importance. In addition, support will also be provided to ministries responsible for trade and commerce to finance the planning and construction of cross-border markets in the border areas. The second component is the implementation of policy and procedural reforms and capacity building to facilitate cross-border trade in goods and services. A clear lesson from previous trade facilitation projects is that improvements in infrastructure need to be accompanied by policy and procedural reforms and capacity building. The third component is the performance based management in cross-border administration. It will primarily focus on raising mutual awareness on their respective rights and obligations as stated in the ‘charter for cross-border traders in goods and services’, as well as on strengthening basic elements such as a professional attitude to border operations, customer care for officials, duty calculation for traders, mutual respect and understanding of constraints, etc. More generally it will progressively build mutual trust. On the other hand, change management activities planned under sub-component 3.1 will build on those exercises and develop different tools and incentives to increase professionalization for border officials only. Finally, the fourth component is the implementation support, communication, monitoring and evaluation.

FY17 - Industry, Trade and Services

World Bank Group

Project

Airport, Commercial, Government