Zambia stands to benefit from the five billion dollars credit guarantee for Micro, Medium, and Small Enterprises committed by seven Pan African Financial Institutions.
The disclosure was made by African Union Commissioner for Trade and Industry, Albert Muchanga, during a bilateral meeting with the Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry, Chipoka Mulenga in Niamey, Niger.
Mr Muchanga said the financial institutions had also pledged two million dollars toward the capacity building of Enterprises for Member States, including Zambia.
The Commissioner said the African Union recognized that one of the major challenges that Member States faced in actualizing the call for industrialization was lack of access to finances hence the partnering with some financial institutions to offer credit facilities.
And Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry Hon. Chipoka Mulenga said Zambia needed financial and technical support from the African Union to meet the obligation of actualizing industrialization by 2063.
He said Zambia needed support in setting up enterprises and industries that could add value to raw materials.
The Minister said the Government placed a high premium on issues of industrialization as it was aware that it was losing a lot of money from exporting raw materials and importing finished products.
And speaking during a panel discussion of African Trade Observatory – ATO – Mr Mulenga said the provision of adequate information on trade and industry was vital to private sector growth if the African Continental Free Trade Area is to be successful.
He commended the initiative by the International Trade Centre to develop African Trade Observatory (an online platform with information on trade and industry), stating that the Zambian Government was happy to implement the ATO Platform by providing the necessary information through ZRA’s ASYCUDA world system.
He said the ATO Platform should provide information and analysis on trade deficits and surplus, obstacles to trade, trade opportunities, and industrial development.
The Minister also called for collaboration between the International Trade Centre and the Zambian Government in sensitization campaigns to inform the relevant stakeholders, especially private sector players, including SMEs, on the platform’s existence and benefits.
The Minister is in Niamey to represent President Hakainde Hichilema at the AU Extraordinary Summit on Industrialization and Diversification, and the Extraordinary Session on the African Continental Free Trade Area.
This is contained in a statement issued by Inutu Mwanza First Secretary-Press &Tourism Zambia Embassy, Addis Ababa
