Minister of Finance and National Planning Dr. SITUMBEKO MUSOKOTWANE, MP, has arrived in Davos, Switzerland, for the 2023 World Economic Forum. Dr. MUSOKOTWANE, who is attending the event on behalf of President HAKAINDE HICHILEMA, is accompanied by Commerce Trade and Industry Minister CHIPOKA MULENGA, Bank of Zambia Governor Dr. DENNY KALYALYA, and Zambia’s Ambassador to Switzerland and Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office in Geneva, EUNICE LUAMBIA.
Starting today, Dr. MUSOKOTWANE and his delegation will attend and participate in both scheduled events and bilateral engagements with several development and cooperating partners.
Among the bilateral engagements is one with the Egyptian Minister of Planning and Economic Development. Here, the bilateral partners will be examining Zambian exports to Egypt, probing opportunities for further cooperation, and exchanging insights on debt management and Zambia’s IMF Supported Programme – The Enhanced Credit Facility 2022-2025.
The Zambia delegation to the World Economic Forum will also meet ALVARO LARIO, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), who not only wishes to appreciate progress on Zambia’s reform agenda but also get acquainted with the country’s efforts tailored at attracting foreign direct investment, domestic climate change mitigation/adaptation, and investment in sustainable agriculture development.
Another high-level bilateral meeting will be with MOHAMMED AL-JADAAN, Minister of Finance of Saudi Arabia, with whom opportunities for bilateral cooperation, development finance, and financing support for social projects, and support to farm blocks will be deliberated.
A bilateral meeting with KENNETH ROGOFF, the Chairman of International Economics at Harvard University, United States of America, will also be held and is aimed at helping to address current research and development opportunities and discussing potential collaboration with Universities/Colleges in Zambia. It is hoped that the engagement will cause discussions targeted at supporting Zambia’s tertiary education by building capacities of both private and Public Universities/Colleges through enhanced research capacity in:
- Agriculture, crop production and food security;
- Water resource development;
- Tourism development;
- Adaptability to climate change e.g. access to clean energy, technology transfer, climate smart agriculture processes;
- Access to affordable finance for Small and Medium Enterprises (SME’s); and,
- Provision of quality education to meet skills demands for the local and international market.
Zambia’s growing mining industry, evolving international market dynamics, and options for delivering on the Global Fertilizer Challenge, will be some of the other areas of interest for delegation at the WEF. A key event will be the Financial Service Strategy Session for Africa. This roundtable event will convene industry leaders and policy-makers to explore how the African continent can meet challenges such as transition finance and biodiversity conservation while facilitating economic growth and job creation.
The WEF session on unlocking investment in frontier markets will be one event that is directly linked to the worldwide humanitarian and resilience investing initiative aimed at exploring opportunities for complementing traditional humanitarian responses with long-term and market-driven solutions that support the resilience of vulnerable communities.
The delegation will also participate in the WEF McKinsey meeting for decision makers and explore how leaders, in both the public and private sectors, could seize this historic opportunity and set the continent on a path of strong, sustainable, and inclusive growth.
The Minister and his delegation were met on arrival, Sunday, at Zurich Airport in Switzerland by Zambia’s Ambassador to Switzerland and Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office in Geneva, EUNICE LUAMBIA and other Diplomatic Staff.
