The United Party for National Development (UPND) Youth Wing has described as timely President Hakainde Hichilema’s request that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia considers converting Zambia’s loan facility into a grant as the country restructures its debt.

Speaking when he met special envoy of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman of Saudi Arabia Ahmed Kattan, and Ambassador to Zambia, Osamah Krenshi at State House this week, President Hichilema has also stressed the need to relook at issues surrounding fuel and fertilizer deals between the two countries, so that Zambia can access the two commodities from Saudi Arabia in view of the ongoing political tension between Russia and Ukraine.

The Head of State said Zambia and Saudi Arabia enjoy warm relations and already cooperate in areas of health, disaster management, agriculture, fertiliser and energy.

UPND Deputy National Youth Information and Publicity Secretary David Chikwanda has described President Hichilema’s request that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia considers converting Zambia’s loan facility into a grant as appropriate and wise.

Mr. Chikwanda said Zambia needs a proactive and pragmatic leadership like that of President Hichilema amid economic challenges that have negatively affected the entire global.

He said President Hichilema has proved that he has a vision and a heart for the people of Zambia by engaging Saudi Arabia in the quest to deal with the rising fuel prices.

Mr. Chikwanda said the conflict between Ukraine and Russia is likely to slow down the growth of most world economies and push prices of food up hence the need for countries like Zambia to be proactive.

“We applaud the president’s efforts in forging strategic ties with Saudi Arabia. The entire world is definitely feeling the impact of the conflict in Ukraine which is likely to slow down the growth of most world economies and push prices of food and commodities upwards. Developing countries like Zambia are likely to be affected the most. In times like these, any country needs a proactive and pragmatic leadership like President Hichilema has exhibited so far. The call by President Hichilema to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to convert Zambia’s loan facility into a grant is timely and we support the President. It will be extremely difficult for a developing country like Zambia to deal with a debt burden amidst the global challenges resulting from the war in Ukraine,” Mr. Chikwanda stated.

“President Hichilema has proved that he has a vision and a heart for the people by engaging Saudi Arabia in the quest to deal with the rising fuel prices. The world is going through a tough time and this too shall pass but we thank God for the mature, responsible and visionary leadership exhibited by President Hichilema,” he said.

Mr. Chikwanda said the New Dawn Government was on the right path to make Zambia more prosperous.

“With the planned recruitment of 11,200 Health workers, recruitment of 30,000 teachers and ongoing payments to retirees, we definitely expect our political opponents to frustrate this goodwill shown by the government through propaganda, deceit and lies. We appeal to the people of Zambia not to be deceived by jealous political opportunists. We have no doubt that the UPND-led Government will endeavor to fulfill every promise made to the Zambians even under difficult circumstances,” Mr. Chikwanda said.

Mr. Chikwanda further saluted President Hichilema for showing leadership by visiting the Ministry of Health and ensuring that the concerns of the public are addressed on the shortage of medical drugs.

“In conclusion, As UPND youth leadership we sincerely thank President Hichilema for showing leadership by visiting the Ministry of Health and ensuring that the concerns of the public are addressed. It is our prayer that it should not always take the president to resolve issues that can be sorted out by those charged with the authority to do so. Loyalty is very important and those who are not willing to work with the current government must be excused because we are desperate for positive changes in our country. God bless Zambia,” Mr. Chikwanda said.

Tysys Capital Group a South African company with a capital base of about 65 billion United State dollars has shown interest in investing in various projects in North-Western Province.

Speaking when they paid a courtesy call on Northwestern province Permanent Secretary, Grandson Katambi yesterday, Tysys founder and group Chief Executive Officer, Modise Motloba said their interest is in investing in housing units projects among other things.

Mr Motloba said working in partnership with his Zambian counterpart, they want to help with the feasibility studies and raise the funds for the projects.

“We believe in the projects and the housing sites that you have and other areas, we could assist from the concept around feasibility studies to basically preparing from our commercial case experience that we have and expertise to have been able to raise the money”, Mr Motloba said.

He said their other interest is to help Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) as they are critical in creating jobs, distributing wealth and also sustenance of the economy.

Mr Motloba said they want to provide access to finance as well as access to markets for SMEs.

“And out of that we hope that we will have an ecosystem where there will be a thriving SME environment, there will be a thriving job creation environment and there will be a thriving income generating environment”, he said.

North-Western Province Permanent Secretary, Grandson Katambi commended North-Western Chamber of Commerce for attracting investors from outside Zambia to assist the nation in reconstructing the economy of Zambia.

“It’s a known issue that we are trying to reconstruct our economy in Zambia which was not doing very well and we can only do that if we tap into other adventures that will promote or help us bring together our economy which is now in shambles”, Col. Katambi said.

Col. Katambi added that the province has almost everything that is perennial in nature that the investor would like to invest in.

He urged the investors to take some time and move around and see if there are other areas they will have interest in.

Meanwhile, North-Western Chamber of Commerce and Industry Vice president, Amos Kapi said the investment for Tysys Capital Group is the result of the investment expo that the province held in 2019.

Mr Kapi said Tysys is interested in investing in a modern bus station and housing projects in the province.

“They have come in to the province to provide and appreciate some of the designated projects and investment sites”, he said.

Mr Kapi has since called on the Provincial Administration to help the investors in every possible way to ensure that the investments are actualised.

The national power utility ZESCO has bemoaned the increasing levels of vandalism to its infrastructure on the Copperbelt.

ZESCO Head of Security, Hamulundu Kapika has revealed that the power utility company lost over K 9 million last year alone through vandalism of its various infrastructure on the Copperbelt.

Speaking in Kitwe yesterday during the Kitwe District Public Sensitization meeting, Mr. Kapika said the increased vandalism of the company’s infrastructure is affecting the effective provision of power to its customers in the province.

He said the vandalism of power cables does not only affect the company but the customers also both the residential and industrial customers.

He said the company has since embarked on a sensitization programme against vandalism on the Copperbelt in order to change the trend.

“The levels of vandalism has increased on the Copperbelt, a situation that has forced us to embark on a community sensitization program which has so far been conducted in Mufulira, Chingola and Kitwe, last year alone, the company lost K9 million due to vandalism which affected the operations of the power utility company,” Mr. Kapika said.

And ZESCO Copperbelt Senior Regional Director, Tom Daka said the power utility company is concerned with the continued vandalism of its cables by members of the community in all parts of the province which is affecting power supply.

Mr. Daka said vandalism has proved to be a huge challenge because members of the community have continued the illicit activity despite numerous sensitization efforts.

He said the utility company has since resorted to intensifying sensitization programs in collaboration with the Zambia police.

He was optimist that the scourge will be addressed if perpetrators are brought to book.

Zambia’s creditors are in the next few weeks expected to form a committee to examine the sustainability of the nation’s debt and determine the amount of relief they are willing to offer, Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane said on Friday.

“We anticipate that the official creditor committee will be formed within the next few weeks, paving the way for the restructuring discussions,” Dr. Musokotwane said in parliament.

The discussions on Zambia’s debt, at 120% of GDP, are expected to culminate in creditors providing financial assurances to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the approval of a $1.4 billion extended credit facility, he said.

In 2020, Zambia became the first country to default in the pandemic era, buckling under a debt burden that rose to $31.74bn at the end of 2021, 17% higher than six months earlier.

Although the committee would comprise bilateral creditors, Dr. Musokotwane said commercial creditors would also be invited to provide relief to Zambia to ensure burden-sharing.

“Everything is going according to plan,” Dr. Musokotwane said, adding that the Debt Sustainability Analysis (DSA), which forms the basis of restructuring plans, had been completed.

Musokotwane told Reuters in February that he hoped the DSA would be finished by the end of the month and that Zambia would reach an understanding with creditors in March or April, which would then pave the way for a formal IMF agreement by May.

That timeline was deemed ambitious by analysts, given that the creditor committee had not yet been formed.

Dr. Musokotwane told parliament the government was aiming for an IMF deal “by the middle of this year”.

Zambia is this May scheduled to host the first Zambia European (EU) Union business forum which will provide a platform for Zambia and EU Member states and the business communities to explore opportunities for investment and trade.

The forum slated for May 18 and 19, 2022 in Lusaka is also targeted at bringing together entrepreneurs, corporate institutions, financial institutions and innovators from both the EU and Zambia to discuss and explore other potential areas of investment with a focus on value addition.

Speaking during the launch of the forum in Lusaka yesterday, Minister of Commerce Trade and Industry (MCTI) Chipoka Mulenga said government is committed to create market-oriented economic policies that encourage sustainable economic growth through private sector development.

Mr. Mulenga explained that this is why government has put in place economic policies to guide decision making focused on foreign and domestic investments in the country as key drivers of continued development and diversification.

“The New dawn administration is strongly committed to market-oriented economic policies that encourage sustainable economic growth through private sector development, similarly, the national industry policy and trade policy which has successfully guided our economic policy decisions over the last years pays particular attention on foreign and domestics investments into Zambia key drivers of continued development and diversification, “he said.

He noted that the EU is a strategic investment and trade partner to Zambia and has significantly contributed to Zambia’s sustainable growth in all sectors, fostering reforms and facilitating investment opportunities with a focus on private sector investments.

He said this is why the launch signifies an important milestone in Zambia’s economic relations with the EU as the country has established and maintained good political and economic relations with the European Union.

Mr. Mulenga also added that the EU has made significant contributions to Zambia’s sustainable growth in all sectors of the economy.

He pointed out that the new administration has embarked on an ambitious economic and social transformation agenda aimed at turning around the economy within reasonable time with a focus on the 3Rs namely, Recover, Repair and Revive the economy.

In this regard, the Minister noted that government has recognised the need to intensify trade and investment promotion activities to attract investment across all sectors of the Zambian economy, such as Agriculture, Energy, Mining and Mineral beneficiation, and Green economy, Manufacturing, Tourism and Information Communication Technology.

Mr. Mulenga further added that Zambia has remained in a strong position to compete favourably despite the negative effects of Covid -19 on the global economy and investment.

“With the global economy grappling with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, competition for global investment has become more intense than ever. But we are convinced that Zambia is in a strong position to stay competitive and continue to attract high levels of foreign direct investment,” he added.

And EU Head of Delegation Jacek Jankowski has pledged continued support to Zambia in its quest to create private sector investment and business chances that foster economic development and create employment.

Mr. Jankowski also stressed the need to promote the development of sustainable products and services in the green economy.

He explained that it is for this reason that it is expected that Zambia and European business leaders will come together and explore new opportunities for their companies to flourish, grow and provide the possibility for companies from Zambia and EU to exhibit their products and services.

“Our common goal is to generate private sector investments and business opportunities that foster economic growth and create jobs. In particular, we wish to promote the development of sustainable products and services in the green economy,” he explained.

He added that Zambia as a land linked country of the heart of Africa, is famous for natural abundance opportunities in different sectors.

He commended President Hakainde Hichilema for embarking on a course of ambitious political, economic as well as fiscal and social reforms and putting high premium on private sector green growth and innovation.

“The EU and its Member States are Zambia’s longstanding economic and trade partners and stand ready to support these endeavours. The upcoming first edition of a Zambia-EU forum will be a great opportunity to explore new business partnerships and to learn more about the EU’s financial incentives for investing in the green economy,” he said.

The forum will be held under the theme “Economic Transformation through Green Growth”