The East African Community (EAC), a regional intergovernmental organization of seven partner states, has unveiled an online tool to measure the performance of 22 one-stop border posts (OSBPs) across the region, the EAC said in a statement Tuesday.
The statement said the online tool was unveiled Monday by Annette Ssemuwumba, EAC deputy secretary general in charge of Customs, Trade and Monetary Affairs, during the opening session of the 14th African Union High Level Private Sector Forum in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi.
Ssemuwumba announced that the tool was now ready for use and that EAC member states and stakeholders will embark on data collection, sensitization on use and full rollout.
The statement said OSBPs are an important infrastructure at border crossing points and contribute to spurring intra-regional trade by reducing the costs of doing business through the reduction of time and costs taken to cross borders.
According to the statement, lack of data to inform decision-making on major aspects such as OSBPs performance, human resources and the state of the physical and digital infrastructure have often slowed down collective action for optimal performance of existing OSBPs.
The statement said the OSBP performance measurement tool will involve a range of measurements including time spent on administrative procedures, reduction of transport costs, reduction of inventory costs, and an increase in revenue collection and trade.
The EAC member states are Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda.
