By Derrick Silimina
The Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) is leading a delegation of Zambian businesses for a trade mission to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Haut-Katanga province in Lubumbashi scheduled for 16th to 18th October 2024.
In a statement, ZDA Director General Albert Halwampa said the 40 Zambian companies are from various sectors including agriculture, agro-processing, mining, engineering, chemicals and pharmaceuticals among others and the objective of the trade mission is to facilitate the growth of Zambia’s non-traditional exports (NTEs) and to secure market access for Zambian products.
“We believe the mission is timely and will further deepen market linkages and deepen trade relationships between the two countries and help Zambian businesses to scale up production while creating employment opportunities for the locals,” Halwampa explained.
He stated that the Agency hopes to penetrate, consolidate and expand the Congolese market for Zambian products adding that the trade mission will be characterized by an opening session attended by the Congolese government and industry players followed by exhibitions and business-to-business meetings with buyers from DRC through a well-coordinated match-making process based on the profiles of the companies.
Halwampa revealed that working with the DRC government and the Chamber of Commerce in Lubumbashi Fédération des Entreprises du Congo (FEC), ZDA has matched Zambian and Congolese businesses depending on the sectors and areas of interest to facilitate trade deals and transactions.
He noted that Congo DR has been Zambia’s largest market for non-traditional exports for a long time hence the need to maintain the country’s foothold in the DRC market, by conducting market research and trade missions every year.
Halwampa further stated that trade missions are an important tool that the Agency uses to link exporters to market and have proved successful resulting from the 2023 trade mission, with the participating companies generating leads worth $13.80 million.
“To date, out of the $13.80 million orders generated, more than $6 million worth of transactions have been actualized through exports to the DRC.”
