Eveline de Klerk
Swakopmund
Minister of Works and Transport Alpheus !Naruseb says government knows and understands the role played by roads and corridor development in achieving economic development.
!Naruseb was speaking at the official opening of the fourth joint law enforcement operation between South Africa, Namibia and Botswana that is currently underway in Swakopmund.
The aim of the workshop was to see how the countries can join forces to minimise crime along the TransKalahari corridor and at the same time ensure efficient flow of trade between the countries.
Botswana Minister of Transport and Communication Kitso Mokaila, as well as South African Minister of Transport Joseph Maswanganyi also attended the meeting.
!Naruseb said well-developed corridors enhance accessibility, reliability and predictability and are in fact key in the facilitation of trade, which stimulates the economy through various domestic economic initiatives, while minimising risks.
“The world economy continues to recover from the significant downturn, and thus gives opportunities to SADC to transform themselves and develop their optimal strategies to sustain the recovery beyond the crisis, and optimise trade along the TransKalahari corridor,” he said.
!Naruseb went on to explain that it is indeed appropriate that SADC countries act in concert to compete in the highly integrated global system, as such economic transformation involves economic integration and comes with the recognition that countries in the region do not compete with one another, but with the world.
“This is one of the reasons that lead the contracting parties of the Trans Kalahari Management Committee (TKCMC) to establish the Trans Kalahari Corridor,” he said.