Southern Africa Regional Programme

TradeMark Africa’s Southern Africa Regional Programme supports sustainable and inclusive trade growth across Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia, adopting a corridor-based approach centred on key regional trade and transport corridors, including the Nacala, Beira, North-South, Dar es Salaam, Maputo and Lobito corridors. The programme seeks to address persistent constraints to trade competitiveness and regional integration by improving trade facilitation, strengthening export competitiveness, enhancing connectivity, promoting digital trade and supporting climate-resilient and inclusive economic growth. The programme is structured around three interconnected objectives. First, it seeks to improve the efficiency and predictability of trade through investments in trade facilitation, customs modernisation, digital trade systems, border management, corridor coordination and strategic trade infrastructure. These interventions are expected to reduce the time and cost of trading across borders, improve logistics performance and facilitate greater regional and international market access. Second, the programme aims to enhance the quality, value and competitiveness of traded goods by strengthening standards, sanitary and phytosanitary systems, quality assurance infrastructure and value addition across priority agricultural and industrial value chains. Support to producers, exporters and regulatory institutions is designed to improve compliance with international market requirements, increase export earnings and strengthen participation in regional and global value chains. Third, the programme promotes greener and more inclusive trade by supporting climate-smart trade policies, sustainable transport and logistics solutions, renewable energy adoption and increased participation of women, youth and small-scale traders in trade. Targeted interventions seek to expand access to markets, finance, skills and digital trade opportunities while ensuring that the benefits of trade are shared more broadly across society. Through these investments, the programme is expected to contribute to reduced trade costs and transit times, increased export growth and competitiveness, stronger regional integration, lower trade-related carbon emissions and expanded economic opportunities for women and youth. Collectively, these outcomes will support more resilient trade systems and sustainable economic development across Southern Africa.