The Southern African Development Community (SADC) will convene an Inter-Ministerial Task Force Meeting of Ministers responsible for Trade, Transport, Infrastructure, and Security Matters to address challenges at the Kasumbalesa Border Posts between the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the Republic of Zambia. The meeting will be held virtually on 11 April 2025.
The Kasumbalesa border post has faced persistent issues, including congestion, trade facilitation-related constraints, infrastructure challenges, and rising security concerns, particularly affecting truck drivers and the broader trading community. These challenges have remained a significant concern for the region.
Recognising the strategic importance of the Kasumbalesa border post for intra-regional trade, the SADC region has adopted a corridor-wide approach to address these ongoing challenges. This approach considers that resolving issues at a single border post alone is not sustainable, as efficiencies gained may be offset by bottlenecks at adjacent border crossings and along the trade corridors.
The Kasumbalesa border crossing serves as a convergence point for several regional trade corridors, including the North-South Corridors, the Central Development Corridor (Dar es Salaam), the Walvis Bay-Ndola-Lubumbashi Corridor, the Beira Development Corridor, and the Lobito Development Corridor. These corridors impact 10 SADC Member States: Angola, Botswana, DRC, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
