Cross-border trade plays an important role in Africa’s development, particularly in Regional Economic Communities (RECs). In the current context of increased economic integration, at the regional and now the continental level, border crossing needs to be fast and predictable in terms of both time and procedures.
One-stop border posts (OSBPs) are among the most successful interventions implemented to improve the transit of people and goods at border crossings across countries. Several OSBPs have been set up in the East African region, thanks to the efforts and interventions of East African governments and several development organisations, chiefly TradeMark Africa (TMA, formerly TradeMark East Africa, TMEA) but also the World Bank and the Japan International Cooperation Agency, to name a few.
The East African experience in setting up OSBPs can provide lessons for the rest of the continent. The ODI OSBP toolkit aims to distil these lessons in a format that provides ‘food for thought’ for others who want to emulate TMA’s work.
