The Kenya-Ethiopia One-Stop Border Post (OSBP) at Moyale has started operations, following its official launch in December 2020 by President Uhuru Kenyatta and Abiy Ahmed, the Ethiopian Prime Minister.
The OSBP seeks to improve cross border trade and free movement of people and enhance trade on the Trans-African Highway to accelerate socio-economic transformation for both countries.
Henceforth, border regulatory officials clearing traffic, cargo and persons from both Ethiopia and Kenya will relocate to Moyale and sit on either side of the border, jointly undertaking exit and entry formalities.
A fully functional OSBP is expected to reduce the border crossing time by at least 30%, thus enabling faster movement of people and cargo. For example, the establishment of the Busia border Point in 2017 cut average vehicle time from 1 hour 26 minutes to 39 minutes.
Furthermore, the Moyale One-Stop Border Post is complemented by the development of a bitumen standard 438-kilometre road from Merille River to Moyale in Kenya and a 300-kilometre road in Ethiopia, with support from Africa Development Bank (AfDB), European Union, and the two countries’ governments.
Moyale OSBP is the first of its kind in Ethiopia and the fifth for Kenya, with other operational OSBPs being Busia, Malaba, Namanga and Taveta.
At an OSBP, passengers, cargo and vehicles stop once to process border crossing formalities to exit one partner state and enter the other. All border formalities and documentation processing for goods and passengers are carried out in a single clearance hall for exit from one partner state and entry into the adjoining State. If cargo inspection is required, it is done at once through joint inspection involving all interested border agencies from both partner states at the same time and location.
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