By JAMES KUNDA –
ZAMBIA has taken key strides in her quest to implement strategies aligned to the African agenda on regional integration, Vice-President Inonge Wina has said.
Ms Wina classified the strategies as the launch of the e-visa, establishment and deployment of an electronic border management information system, establishment of a one stop border facility at
Chirundu and implementation of guidelines protecting vulnerable migrants.
She said this in a speech read on her behalf by Home Affairs Minister Davies Mwila during the official opening of the second intra-regional forum on migration in Africa, in Lusaka yesterday.
The two-day forum is being held at hotel Intercontinental under the theme “Fostering regional integration: facilitating trade and human mobility through enhanced border management”.
The indaba attracted delegates from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), African Union (AU), Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and International Organisation for Migration (IOM).
Other attendees were from the Southern African Development Community (SADC), United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and the German Cooperation.
“As part of the regional and global agendas, migration and human mobility have been included in four of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SGDS). This gives us the momentum to work together to develop effective human rights policies and ensure that migrants are fully taken into account in national development plans and frameworks,” she said.
Ms Wina emphasised the importance of putting in-place a robust monitoring framework for immigration as monitoring outcomes were key in tracking bottlenecks or opportunities in the implementation process.
“This forum therefore has come at an appropriate time when countries and regions on the African continent are exploring ways of addressing challenges to effective border management,” Ms Wina said.
She assured the delegates that Zambia was a peaceful and friendly country.
IOM director general William Swing said African governments should implement sound policies to effectively coordinate migration, human mobility and cross border trade.
“We are living in a period of unprecedented human mobility which we should not shy away from. The time to address barriers to human mobility is now so that Africa may benefit from the movement of human resources,” Mr Swing said.
COMESA assistant secretary general Naglay El-Hussainy pledged that the organisation would continue aiding member states to enhance human integration and cross border trade.