Zambia, Mozambique Break Trade Barriers

Hichikumba said closer cooperation would help businesses avoid unnecessary repeat testing, improve confidence in the quality of goods and make it easier to move products between the two countries.

She said the agreement also supported the Grow Zambia Agenda, which seeks to increase production, strengthen local industries and open up opportunities for businesses through trade and investment.

ZCSA executive director Gerald Chizinga said the agreement covered four main areas: standardisation, conformity assessment and accreditation, metrology, and training and information exchange.

He said the institutions would share technical information and work towards recognising equivalent conformity assessment results, helping businesses avoid repeating procedures that have already been completed to the required standards.

Chizinga explained that conformity assessment involves testing, inspecting and certifying products to establish whether they meet the required safety and technical standards.

“Cooperation in this area could reduce repeated testing and certification when goods move between Zambia and Mozambique, helping businesses save time and money while maintaining compliance with relevant standards,” he said.

He said accreditation would help businesses and regulators trust the work of laboratories and other bodies responsible for testing, inspection and certification.

Chizinga said cooperation in metrology, the science of measurement, would also help ensure that measurements used in trade and industry were reliable.

He added that joint training and information exchange would help the institutions improve their technical skills while ensuring that easier trade did not come at the expense of product safety or consumer protection.

ZABS executive director Nathan Sing’ambwa said the success of the agreement would depend on how well the institutions worked together and shared their experience.

He said regular meetings, technical exchanges and laboratory visits would allow specialists from both countries to learn from one another and strengthen their capacity to carry out their work.

“These engagements would enable them to share expertise, improve their technical capabilities and exchange experience in standards development and quality assurance,” Sing’ambwa said.

He said stronger working relationships would help build confidence in products traded between Zambia and Mozambique.

INNOQ director-general Geraldo Albasini said the agreement marked a new chapter in relations between the two countries and supported efforts to strengthen trade across the region.

He said the partnership was in line with the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which seeks to make it easier for African businesses to sell their goods across national borders by reducing trade barriers.

Albasini said countries needed reliable quality systems to ensure that products met the requirements of the markets where they were being sold and that consumers could trust their safety.

He said the agreement would give the institutions opportunities to exchange technical knowledge, build capacity, share good practices and undertake joint initiatives.

Albasini also pointed to the World Bank-funded Southern Africa Trade and Connectivity Project, which seeks to improve trade and transport links along the Nacala and Beira corridors.

He said cooperation between the quality institutions could support the project by addressing technical problems that delay goods and add to the cost of moving them between countries.

Albasini thanked the Zambian institutions and the World Bank for supporting the partnership.

Zambia Metrology Agency executive director Humphrey Nkobeni said the agreement could help tackle a practical problem affecting petroleum deliveries along the Beira Corridor: differences between the quantities of fuel recorded when tankers are loaded and when they are offloaded.

He said such discrepancies could lead to disputes over deliveries and financial losses when the parties involved could not agree on how much petroleum had actually been supplied or received.

Nkobeni said reliable measurement was essential to establishing the quantity of fuel loaded, transported and delivered.

He identified tanker calibration and verification, calibration certificates and dip charts as some of the technical issues that needed attention.

He explained that tanker calibration establishes how much fuel a tank holds at different liquid levels, while dip charts help convert readings taken inside the tank into estimated fuel volumes.

Nkobeni said measurement differences could arise when equipment was not properly calibrated or verified, or when the parties involved used different procedures and records.

He said Zambia and Mozambique needed to align their verification procedures, temperature correction methods and measurement traceability, while working towards recognising equivalent measurement results.

Nkobeni explained that fuel expands when heated and contracts when cooled, meaning temperature changes can affect the volume recorded at different points along the supply chain.

“Consistent temperature correction methods would therefore help ensure that measurements taken at different points along the supply chain could be compared accurately,” he said.

He said the agreement would also support the use of verified bulk flow meters alongside calibrated dipsticks, dip charts and ullage marks to help establish fuel quantities more reliably.

Nkobeni explained that bulk flow meters measure the quantity of petroleum passing through a pipeline, while dipsticks and dip charts help determine the volume inside a tank. Ullage refers to the empty space above the liquid in a tank and can also help establish the quantity of fuel it contains.

He said the institutions could work together to investigate unexplained petroleum losses and resolve disputes arising from differences in measurement results.

Nkobeni said consistent procedures and reliable records would help reduce repeated checks, delivery disputes, delays and the additional costs faced by businesses transporting petroleum between the two countries.

He added that accurate measurement was also important in mining, manufacturing, agriculture and energy, where businesses rely on reliable quantities when buying, selling and processing goods.

“Every litre of petroleum must be accurately measured, properly accounted for and transparently reconciled,” Nkobeni said.

The MoU is expected to strengthen cooperation between Zambia and Mozambique, improve confidence in product testing and measurement, and help businesses move goods between the two countries with fewer technical obstacles.