VICE-PRESIDENT WK Mutale-Nalumango says Zambia is seeking investments that will support the country’s economic transformation agenda through its economic diplomacy.
Ms Mutale Nalumango said her mission to India was to woo investment and enhance trade between the two countries.
Speaking on arrival at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi yesterday, Ms Mutale- Nalumango said that India was an important partner to Zambia’s economic transformation crusade.
“Our coming here fits in very well with the new dawn agenda.. as a country we have gone into economic diplomacy, it does not matter where we go, we must fit in this part, and we are here to meet the captains of industry and see which to take home,” Ms Mutale-Nalumango.
She said the Government was looking to assure current and future investors, that Zambia was the best investment destination in Africa.
She said India was a leader in value addition and Zambia wants to tap into that expertise and grow the economy.
“We are here to attract our colleagues from India so that they can come home and invest,” she said.
Ms Mutale-Nalumango said that India had progressed and could help Zambia turn around her economy through investments and partnerships in various economic sectors such as agriculture, textiles, processing and manufacturing.
“Value addition, these are the things India has done… We need them in so many fields. Whether you go into pharmaceuticals, we need them home,” she said.
Ms Mutale-Nalumango said the Government was creating a conducive climate for undertaking any form of business.
She warned against campaigns of distracting investors as doing so would jeopardise the efforts of Government to fight poverty and create jobs.
She said it was important that Zambia start setting up factories in various economic sectors, like India had done, in order to meet the socio-economic needs of its people.
“It’s time we start having factories of that nature so that we can manufacture products like drugs that we need,” she said.
Ms Mutale-Nalumango said the Government would negotiate with India on the best ways of addressing trade imbalance between the two countries.
Ms Mutale-Nalumango is accompanied by Small and Medium Enterprise Development Minister Elias Mubunga and permanent secretary for administration Lilian Kapusana and Mervis Nkhomeshya for resettlement, and other senior government officials.
She was welcomed by Joint Secretary Puneet Kundal from the Indian Ministry of External Affairs-ZANIS
