Zambia, Tanzania to hold meeting on curbing border revenue loss

Officials from Zambia and Tanzania will hold a high-level meeting aimed at finding solutions to reduce revenue losses at a border entry between the two nations, Zambian authorities said on Tuesday.

About 100 officials from the two governments will meet in the northern Zambian town of Nakonde on Wednesday to work out mechanisms to curb revenue collection leakages at the Nakonde-Tunduma border entry.

The meeting will also tackle various challenges to enable both countries maximize on revenue collection at the border entry, according to a statement released by Zambia's Ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry.

Some of the challenges to be addressed include the porosity of the border, congestion, harmonizing differences in time zones between the two countries in terms of operations, and curbing revenue collection leakages both tax and non-tax, it added.

The meeting will also discuss on how the two countries could decongest the border through a 24-hour operation, reduction in clearance time, surveillance scale-up and elimination of vices such as smuggling at the border.

The One-Stop Border Post serves as one of Zambia's strategic facilities for tax revenue collections and is a major link between Zambia and East Africa, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and the Far-East.

According to the statement, the border is one of the country's busiest border entries and processes between 350 and 400 entries per day.

The refurbished facility was officially launched in May last year, and the government had hoped that the modernization of the border entry will improve revenue collection.

Source: XINHUA