DAR ES SALAAM, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- Tanzanian President John Magufuli and his Zambian counterpart Edgar Lungu on Saturday launched a one stop border post on the two countries' border in the southern highlands to facilitate trade.
The construction of the 6-million-U.S.-dollar state-of-the-art border post at Tunduma in Tanzania and Nakonde in Zambia was financed by Trade Mark East Africa, an organization that aims to improve trade competitiveness in East Africa by reducing transport time and costs, and improving the trade environment.
A statement by the Directorate of Presidential Communication at State House in the business capital Dar es Salaam said the leaders commended the construction of the post, saying it will ease doing business between the two countries and within the southern African region.
President Magufuli directed relevant authorities, including the Tanzania Revenue Authority and the Immigration Department to ensure that they removed all hurdles that frustrated doing business between the two countries and the southern African region at large, said the statement.
"People in our two countries should do business in very friendly environment. This will help to improve their welfare as well as improving the economies of the two countries," said Magufuli.
He said the founding leaders of the two countries, Julius Nyerere of Tanzania and Zambian Kenneth Kaunda launched joint economic projects aimed at making the two countries economically prosperous after they had earned political independence.
Magufuli cited some of the joint projects as the 1,710-kilometre Tanzania-Zambia Pipeline Limited and the 1,860-km Chinese-constructed Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA) that connects landlocked Zambia to the seaport of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.
For his part, President Lungu said the construction of the one stop border post will facilitate trade among the 16-member countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) that boasts a market for 344 million people.
