By IREEN MULENGA
Zambia’s High Commissioner to Australia Frank Bwalya says that the Government has laid a strong foundation for Zambia’s prosperity through the massive infrastructure it has built in various sectors of the economy.
Mr Bwalya made the remarks when the Divisional Manager for Middle East and Africa at New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade Stuart Horne paid a courtesy call on him at the Mission in Canberra.
He said the development of infrastructure by the Government provided a solid Launchpad for economic recovery and its offshoots of job creation, better living standards for all people as well as the lower taxes that a strong economy delivers.
And the Zambian Envoy cited that the recently commissioned Kazungula Bridge is a major economic infrastructure that will improve transportation within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) regions.
They said that the infrastructure will accelerate economic growth for Zambia and the region as a whole.
“Regarding the COVID-19 pandemic Zambia had done well in combating the first wave of the pandemic with an impressive recovery rate but that many people died during the second wave adding that Zambia looked to New Zealand for support in acquiring the much needed vaccines,” Bwalya said.
And Mr Horne said Zambia was one of the countries in Africa that New Zealand wanted to continue working with because of its good development record.
He praised Zambia for the strides recorded in various sectors especially agriculture under which New Zealand is supporting the Zambia Dairy Transformation Programme (ZDTP) to help smallholder dairy farmers improve their productivity, milk quality and linkage to urban markets.
The five-year project was scheduled to end in 2021 but Mr Horne said that New Zealand was willing to continue funding the project because it was vital in improving the livelihood of the Zambian dairy farmers.
Mr Horne said that New Zealand would soon start helping some countries with the Covax vaccineto help fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said his country had prioritized supporting the Pacific nations depended on New Zealand for such support.
This is contained in a statement issued by Herbert Mutabi Secretary for Press in the office of Zambia High Commission to Canberra, Australia
