ICA Supports One-Stop Border Post Regional Workshop in Burkina Faso - 25-27 April 2012

18 April 2012

One-Stop Border Post Regional Workshop
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
25-27 April 2012

Organizers
West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA)
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)

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The Infrastructure Consortium for Africa (ICA) is pleased to announce its participation and support for the upcoming One-Stop Border Post (OSBP) Regional Workshop to be held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso on April 25th-27th, 2012.

Organized by the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA), with financial and knowledge-sharing support provided by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the event is designed with two primary objectives:

• Promote and support construction of one-stop border posts in West Africa.
• Promote the new French translation of the One-Stop Border Post Source Book.

One-Stop Border Posts serve to lessen delays and facilitate inter-regional and international transport and road transit. When exiting one country and entering another, OSBPs combine two stops into one, enabling border agencies to perform joint security controls, thereby reducing travel time and delays for both passenger and freight vehicles.

Considerations for construction and implementation of OSBPs are diverse, as transport border activities include integrated border management systems, construction of border facilities and soft infrastructure issues, such as development of legal, institutional, and operational frameworks.

Thus far, OSBP projects have been implemented in East, West and Southern Africa, and plans have been established for more than 50 OSBPs in these regions.

To capitalize on previous experience and highlight lessons learned, a reference guide, called the One-Stop Border Post Source Book, was initiated by the ICA Transport Sector Platform, championed by JICA, and developed by the East African Community. Published in 2011, the Source Book facilitates development and addresses challenges in the implementation of OSBPs. The new French-language version of the guide will be presented during the workshop to facilitate OSBP discussions in French-speaking West Africa.

In addition to useful information presented in the Source Book, sensitization workshops are organized to facilitate learning, discussion and coordination in the development of OSBPs.

Participants at the workshop in Ouagadougou will include representatives from UEMOA, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and UEMOA member states, in addition to delegates from Nigeria, Ghana and Guinea-Conakry. The African Development Bank will be represented by Barnabe YOUGBARE, Infrastructure Specialist for the Ouagadougou Office in Burkina Faso.

ICA Coodinator Mohamed HASSAN will be present to show ICA’s support and provide opening remarks. ICA Transport Platform expert Momoko WADA will also attend, taking note of discussions and outcomes for presentation to ICA members at the ICA Annual Meeting on June 11th-13th in Tunis.

This event is the third OSBP workshop to be held in Africa and the first for the West Africa region — a direct result of the success of two previous workshops that received strong support and endorsement from ICA Members.* The first workshop took place in Arusha, Tanzania, in May 2011 in collaboration with the East African Community and JICA. The second OSBP Workshop was held in Johannesburg, South Africa, in October 2011, organized by the Southern African Development Community and JICA.

* ICA members include G8 governments, the African Development Bank Group, the World Bank Group, the European Commission, the European Investment Bank, and the Development Bank of Southern Africa.

Related document

Download ONE-STOP BORDER POST SOURCE BOOK and APPENDICES on East African Community website.

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About the Infrastructure Consortium for Africa & ICA Transport Platform

ICA was launched at the G8 Gleneagles summit in 2005, with the mission to help improve the lives and economic well-being of Africans by supporting increased investment in infrastructure in Africa, from public and private sources.

As part of ICA’s work in fostering coordination on a sector level, the ICA Transport Sector Platform was launched in 2010, led by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the European Investment Bank (EIB). Under the ICA Transport platform umbrella, JICA activities focus on facilitating One-Stop Border Posts via development of the OSBP Sourcebook and Sensitization Workshops, while the EIB promotes Port and Airport development through Public-Private Partnerships.

ICA Transport Platform Objectives

• Facilitate effective dialogue between African partners and development partners,
• Coordinate development partners to make their interventions even more effective, and
• Deepen transport infrastructure knowledge sharing among African partners and development partners via the One-Stop Border Post Source Book, workshops, Port and Airport PPP Study, and support of ICA Knowledge Center.

DOWNLOAD the two-page flyer presenting the ICA Transport Platform