Africa-Press – Angola. A unique booth that allows speedy control of goods transported by ships calling at the Commercial Port of Soyo, Zaire province, was opened on Friday, 19th, in that port infrastructure.
Funded by the European Union, Guichet Único was installed as part of the project to support the regulation, facilitation, safety and sustainability of river transport in the area of the International Commission for the Congo-Oubangui-Sangha Basin (CICOS, in its French acronym).
This is a mechanism that allows the import and export processes of various goods by CICOS member states to be formulated within hours, which currently takes around three days to complete, which will reduce time and operational costs.
The Balcão Único consists of a computer device with the respective software, radiocommunications equipment and other devices to support river navigation in the Congo Basin and its tributaries.
According to the chairman of the Board of Directors of the Port Company of Soyo-EP, Fernando Dias, currently, control of goods is done manually and takes three or more days, stressing that this delay creates some embarrassment for dispatchers and other operators.
“With this Single Window we will reduce the formalities and bureaucracy that currently occur, so that we have much more efficient control”, explained the manager of the commercial port of Soyo.
He informed that eight local technicians were prepared by CICOS to operate the aforementioned electronic device, and they are also responsible for replicating the knowledge to others.
Fernando Dias assessed as positive the cooperation between the port of Soyo and the International Commission of the Congo-Oubangui-Sangha Basin (CICOS), made up of Angola, Cameroon, Gabon, Central African Republic (CAR), Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC ) and Congo Brazzaville.
He highlighted that, through CICOS and the European Union, with which the Congo Basin Commission established an agreement, the Soyo Commercial Port is obtaining some notable benefits.
The Balcão Único was formally handed over by the general secretary of CICOS, Marien Teresa Itongo, who went to Soyo for this purpose.
In her intervention, at the signing ceremony of the terms of delivery of the Guichet Único and the respective dossiers, the Gabonese nationality highlighted the steps that have already been taken by the commission she heads in order to facilitate river navigation in the area of regional integration.
He referred to the project to mitigate numerous difficulties faced in river navigation in the Congo River basin corridor, with emphasis on socioeconomic and environmental aspects in the member states.
Marien Teresa Itongo, who praised the President of the Republic, João Lourenço, for his engagement in the operationalization of CICOS, said that future support for Angola will depend on what local authorities request from their organization.
It is important to remember that within the scope of the same project “Support for the Regulation, Facilitation, Security and Sustainability of River Transport in the CICOS Space”, this organization delivered radiocommunications equipment and waste management material, in March 2022, to the Maritime and Port Institute of Angola (IMPA).
The project has financial support from the European Union, worth two million euros.
Headquartered in Kinshasa, CICOS was created in 1999 by the Heads of State and Government of Angola, Cameroon, Gabon, Central African Republic (CAR), Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Congo Brazzaville.
For More News And Analysis About Angola Follow Africa-Press
