Experts from the SADC Transport Facilitation Agency analyze the creation of objective conditions for the investment planned in the Lobito corridor, including those announced by the United States of America
The director of Infrastructure of the Secretariat of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), Mapalao Makaena, highlighted that, with the meeting, the aim is to materialize part of the work carried out by States in August this year, with a view to defining subcommissions in the areas transport, commerce and beyond.
At the meeting that began yesterday, Thursday, and continues until tomorrow, Saturday, the experts will also approve governing documents to support the meeting of transport ministers.
The official highlights that the meeting will reserve space to analyze coordination mechanisms, in line with the agreements signed by governments and international cooperation partners.
“This means that for the Agency to be able to operationalize or limit these memorandums of understanding, there is a rush from international partners. At corridor level, we are under pressure, so we cannot wait too long.
We have to move forward and move fast. We have our leaders, who are our heads of state, very advanced. So, we don’t want to be those elements that pull the carriage back”, he warns.
The Lobito Corridor Transport and Transit Facilitation Agency plays a crucial role, taking into account the challenges proposed by the Angolan Executive in relaunching the Lobito Corridor, hence the administrator of the Benguela Railway (CFB) to technical area, Ottoniel dos Santos, referred to the meeting as an important milestone, because it ends up bringing together the interest of the three countries that make up the Lobito Economic Corridor.
Therefore, experts will create conditions for the materialization of the investments to be made. “This is a process. Before (North American) investments are made, there are a series of precedent conditions that must be met, and this is one of them”, said the official, in statements to the press.
In turn, the legal advisor to the Angolan Ministry of Transport, Pedro Maza Lopes, recalls that, with the Agency, the three States materialized a desire of more than ten years ago, due to the impact of the corridor on the economies of the countries it passes through.
What has been observed, maintains the person responsible, is a series of initiatives aimed at supporting the aforementioned corridor, such is the case, as exemplified, by a recent memorandum signed in Brussels, Belgium, in which the United States, the European Union and the African Development Bank are committed to building the corridor’s infrastructure.
Today, Friday the 15th, the work of the executive committee is taking place and, on Saturday, the meeting of the Transport Ministers of Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia.
The experts will also approve governing documents to support the meeting of transport ministers, to be held tomorrow, Saturday.
By: Constantino Eduardo, in Benguela
