Malawi and Mozambique have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on sanitary and phytosanitary measures to ease agricultural trade, reduce cross-border barriers and protect human, animal and plant health.
Speaking after the signing ceremony in Tete, Malawi’s Secretary for Agriculture, Erica Maganga, said the agreement would help farmers and traders access markets more easily.
“The aim of signing this Memorandum of Understanding is to help facilitate that trade so that people can do business with ease and without barriers,” Maganga said.
She said the agreement would facilitate trade while safeguarding public health.
“This will be done in such a manner that people’s health is properly safeguarded,” she said.
Mozambique’s Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Environment and Fisheries, Acubar Paulo Batista, said the agreement would strengthen bilateral cooperation and improve cross-border trade.
“The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures represents more than the formalisation of an institutional commitment. It constitutes a concrete expression of the will of our two countries to strengthen mutual trust, improve coordination between the competent authorities, and create conditions for safer, more efficient and more predictable cross-border trade,” Batista said.
He said successful implementation would require effective coordination and information-sharing between the two countries.
Project Manager for the World Bank-supported Southern Africa Trade and Connectivity Project, Hastings Ngoma, said harmonising sanitary and phytosanitary requirements would reduce delays at border posts.
“In this MoU what we want to do is to harmonise, so that when you move from one country to another the issues they examine are the same,” Ngoma said.
He added: “With this ceremony we hope it will move trade forward between these two countries.”
President of CTA Tete, Antonio Saene, said the agreement would improve the control and certification of agricultural products crossing the borders.
“We regard ourselves as a private-sector entity that is receiving a very substantial benefit by signing this MoU,” he said.
Saene said the agreement would also support business growth between the two countries.
“Definitely it will boost business between Mozambique and Malawi, and we shall also have the opportunity to exercise control over the quality of the products that we are bringing in from both countries,” he said.
The MoU provides for joint programmes, training, research, technical assistance and information-sharing. It also establishes a Joint Technical Management Committee to oversee implementation.
The agreement takes effect upon signature and remains valid for five years, with provision for automatic renewal for a further five years unless either country gives notice of termination.
Malawi and Mozambique are members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
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