Five Southern African countries pledged to expand the use of a special common visa to facilitate easier movement of tourists, aiming to boost visitor arrivals in the region, on Friday.
Representatives from the nations that comprise the Kavango-Zambezi (KAZA) Transfrontier Conservation Area—Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe—promised in principle to expand the use of the unique visa known as a univisa, which permits entrance into several nations.
Currently in use in Zimbabwe and Zambia, the univisa also covers day excursions to Botswana via Kazungula.
Regional leaders expressed their desire for the special visa to be extended to other governments in the conservation area as well as the southern African economic bloc during a KAZA heads of state summit held in Livingstone, Zambia.
“We must simply say that this will happen. I am grateful that my colleagues have reached consensus on the univisa,” Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema said in his address.
Vice President Slumber Tsogwane of Botswana declared that his nation would completely implement the univisa.
The member nations of KAZA have also decided to push for the lifting of the ivory and elephant trade prohibition by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
The 184-member CITES intergovernmental convention controls the trade in wildlife in order to prevent overexploitation of specific species. In 1989, the trade in African elephant ivory was outlawed due to a significant drop in the animal’s population during the preceding ten years.
The KAZA nations claim to have $1 billion worth of ivory reserves, which they hope to sell to raise money for conservation initiatives.
