Posts in category: Uncategorized

By NATION REPORTER

THE Cross-Border Traders Association (CBTA) has urged its members to stop conducting illegal trade at border posts and pay the due taxes.

CBTA president, Goodson Mbewe urged Small Scale Cross Border Traders (SSCBT) to formalise their businesses and stop dodging paying taxes.

Mr Mbewe emphasised the need for traders to desist from conducting illegal trade at border posts by using the correct points of entry and exit.

He said this on Wednesday at the official launch of the International Trade Centre (ITC)-COMESA Trade Facilitation Training Programme in Lusaka.

“It is high time we made cross border trade as a sector of trade. Cross border traders should stop doing illegal business, let us formalise ourselves, these trainings were also meant to encourage us to use the border.

“Let us use the gazetted routes for both exit and entering. Let us make sure that goods that we import pass through the border. Even if it means paying K1 at borders, let us pay that money so that our governments can improve and provide what we need,” he said.

The ITC-COMESA Trade Facilitation Training Programme aims at raising more awareness on cross border trade for the cross-border traders.

The International Trade Facilitation Training Programme targets to raise awareness for cross-border traders, border officials as well as other relevant entities, and shape behaviours to doing formal and safe trade across borders.

At the same function, ITC Project Manager for the COMESA CBTI, Aklile Mitiku Habtemariam, said the programme had been under implementation over the last several years,

 “We are all aware of the importance of information and awareness creation in the business practices and lives of SSCBTs, and giving high importance to such a training programme is thus crucial for a safe and successful cross border trade.

“This launch is an important event for all of us, as it will demonstrate (one of) the achievements of the Cross-Border Trade Initiative Programme and provide us with valuable insights and information on the training programme developed and deployed,” he said.

Meanwhile, COMESA European Development Fund (EDF) Programme Manager Mshuka Kamwela, was of the view that the training programme would equip participants with knowledge on cross border trading.

Ms Kamwela stated that the main beneficiaries of the programme were the cross-border traders.

“The programme is being funded under the 11TH EDF under the European Union and has been developed by ITC,” she said.

Previous research into male pattern hair loss, also termed androgenetic alopecia, has implicated multiple common genetic variants. Human geneticists from the University Hospital of Bonn (UKB) and by the Transdisciplinary Research Unit “Life & Health” of the University of Bonn have now performed a systematic investigation of the extent to which rare genetic variants may also contribute to this disorder.

Feces from endangered animals could be the source of a potential new treatment for the infectious bacteria that cause diabetic foot ulcers, researchers from the University of Sheffield have found.

A combined team of diabetes specialists from Eberhard Karls University Tübingen and Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, both in Germany, has found evidence that suggests brain sensitivity to insulin may be modulated by the menstrual cycle in women.

A research group at the University of Helsinki and its partners have found a promising drug candidate for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Cerebral dopamine neurotrophic factor CDNF prolongs the lifespan of and alleviates disease symptoms in rats and mice in animal studies.

Scientists studying Alzheimer’s disease (AD) have identified thousands of genetic variants in the genome in the development of this progressive neurodegenerative disease.

When you see a familiar face upright, you’ll recognize it right away. But if you saw that same face upside down, it’s much harder to place. Now researchers who’ve studied Claudio, a 42-year-old man whose head is rotated back almost 180 degrees such that it sits between his shoulder blades, suggest that the reason people are so good at processing upright faces has arisen through a combination of evolution and experience. The findings appear September 22 in the journal iScience.

Research led by Seng Chan You, MD, at the Yonsei University College of Medicine, Korea, has investigated the risk of cancer associated with use of the drug ranitidine compared to other histamine-2 receptor antagonists (H2RAs) using a large-scale cohort study across multiple countries.

The ability of cancer cells to metastasize, or spread from one part of the body to another, is one of the reasons why cancer can be extremely challenging to treat. However, the process that drives metastasis is complex and not fully understood.

By BUUMBA CHIMBULU

GUIDELINES to enhance mitigation of risks that come with innovation while protecting the financial sector from fraudsters have been issued by the Bank of Zambia (BoZ).

The cyber and information risk management guidelines provide minimum requirements to help enhance the management of risks that come with innovation such as cyber risk.

This is according to the BoZ acting Assistant Director-Examinations and Surveillance Bank Supervision Department, Beatrice Kalale.

Ms Kalale speaking in Lusaka yesterday at the launch of the United Bank for Africa (UBA) Zambia’s Industrial branch stressed the importance of collective efforts to guard the financial sector from fraudsters.

She said doing so would promote public confidence in the sector that would in turn stir increased participation.

She noted that the opening of the UBA Zambia branch provided an opportunity to the institution to engage customers and raise awareness on the safe use of technology, especially as it related to banking services.

“The evolution of the financial sector provides both opportunities and challenges. As we strive for efficiency through the increased use of technology in providing financial services and products, it is important that banks remain vigilant in mitigating the risks that come with innovation such as cyber risk,” Ms Kalale said.

She was optimistic that UBA Zambia would continue to positively contribute to economic growth through various innovative products.

Speaking earlier, UBA Zambia Chief Executive Officer, Chinedu Obeta, announced that the institution now had eight branches in the country.

Mr Obeta also announced that the Central Bank yesterday approved the establishment of the ninth branch in Chipata which would be opened in the next two weeks.

He stressed the bank’s utilisation of the digital platforms to provide convenient banking for customers.

And UBA Zambia Board Chairperson, Tukiya Kankasa Mabula, urged businesses to capitalise and leverage on the bank’s extensive touch points to conduct their businesses.

Dr Mabula said pointed out the branch’s latest technology that would benefit customers.