NEWTON SIBANDA, Lusaka
THE permanent Zambezi Watercourse Commission (ZAMCOM) secretariat in the Zimbabwean capital Harare has been established and is fully operational following the appointment of an executive secretary.
ZAMCOM programme manager for information, communication and partnerships, Leonissah Abwino-Munjoma said in a statement  on Thursday that the secretariat is expected to provide efficient and timely support to cooperation among the riparian states as well as plan and organise basin-wide activities involving stakeholders at all levels.
Ms Munjoma said the secretariat is led by Professor Zeb Phiri, a Zambian water resources engineer who has spent most of his life working on issues around water resource development and management country, the region and beyond.
“Prof Phiri comes to the secretariat with a wealth of experience in the trans-boundary nature of water resources development and management having been manager for the Zambezi Action Plan Project 6.2 (ZACPRO 6.2), a SADC project that witnessed the birth of the ZAMCOM Agreement,” she said.
ZAMCOM is a river basin organisation set up by the eight countries that share the Zambezi River through an agreement signed in 2004. These are Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Nambia, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The secretariat is financially supported by the riparian states and a number of cooperating partners including the Danish government, the German government and the World Bank.
ZAMCOM’s objective is to “promote the equitable and reasonable utilisation of the water resources of the Zambezi watercourse as well as the efficient management and sustainable development thereof.
“Water is a critical resource in the life and development of nations to ensure poverty alleviation. What is encouraging is that the riparian states have realised that there is more to be gained by working together over shared waters and that cooperation is an imperative rather than an option,” Prof Phiri said.
He said the successful trans-boundary management of the Zambezi river basin, the largest shared watercourse in southern Africa, presents an opportunity for cooperation in managing shared water resources for regional economic development and integration in southern Africa.