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LANDLOCKED countries face peculiar challenges with access to the sea and oceans being the main one impeding their quest for increased trade and exports. In this vein, they rely on their neighbours with access to the sea for the transportation of their goods.

To deal with the constraints facing landlocked countries, world leaders, including President Mugabe, are attending a United Nations conference on Landlocked Developing Countries in Vienna, Austria. This follows the first high level meeting of landlocked countries in Almaty, Kazakhstan, in August 2003.

Lack of access to the sea, remoteness and isolation from world markets and high transit costs continue to impose serious constraints on the overall socio-economic development of landlocked developing countries and the ongoing summit seeks to address these issues.

Speaking at the conference on Monday, President Mugabe emphasised the indispensability of regional integration to achieve balanced development between landlocked and transit countries. He outlined a raft of measures that Comesa and Sadc member countries can implement to reduce the cost of trade. Zimbabwe, as a landlocked and transit country, was conscious of the indispensability of regional integration and cooperation for survival and progress.

“The duality of our position as landlocked and transit countries compels us to take into account national and regional dimensions as we plan and develop our transport infrastructure and other ancillary services related to transit routes,” Cde Mugabe said. Sea borne trade for landlocked countries unavoidably depends on transit through other countries and additional border crossings and long distances from the market substantially increase the total expenses for the transport services.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon told the conference that the cost of trade was 47 percent higher for landlocked countries and this spawned “uneven growth” among developing countries. We agree with him. The economic performance of landlocked developing countries reflects the direct and indirect impact of their geographical situation on key economic variables. Landlocked developing countries are generally among the poorest of the developing countries, with the weakest growth rates, and are typically heavily dependent on a very limited number of commodities for their export earnings. Moreover, of 31 landlocked developing countries, 16 are classified as least developed.

The remoteness from major world markets is the principal reason why many landlocked developing countries have not been very successful in mitigating consequences caused by their geographical handicap as compared to landlocked countries in Europe. Landlocked developed countries of Europe are surrounded by major developed markets and their seaborne trade accounts for a relatively small part of their external trade. Their export is mainly high value added products and their distance from the seaport is relatively short. The distances involved in most cases of landlocked developing countries are excessive. Kazakhstan has the longest distance from the sea (3,750 km), followed by Afghanistan, Chad, Niger, Zambia and Zimbabwe with distances from the nearest seacoast in excess of 2,000 km.

Transit time for goods of landlocked developing countries is extremely long because of their long distance, difficult terrain, road and railway conditions and inefficiency of transit transport. In most cases their transit neighbours are themselves developing countries, often of broadly similar economic structure and beset by similar scarcities of resources. President Mugabe, who is the current Sadc chairman, said as the integration processes deepen, it is important to ensure that the specific challenges of landlocked and transit countries receive particular attention in the interest of achieving balanced development throughout the region. He said the Sadc Regional Infrastructure Development Master plan adopted in Maputo in 2012 had the potential to improve the transport, energy and communication connectivity in the region — critical in addressing the challenges faced by landlocked developing countries.

We concur with the President’s assertions and urge Comesa and Sadc member countries to implement urgent reforms and continuously review their regulatory policies that they apply to transit transport to eliminate inefficiencies and non-physical barriers to cross-border transport and connectivity. We are aware that Comesa and Sadc are designing and implementing various instruments to promote transport co-operation in the region but we implore them to explore more ways of facilitating the ease of doing business in the region and reduce rent-seeking practices along transit routes.

They should also expedite the implementation of the One-Stop Border Posts to facilitate easier border formalities for traders.