The Zambia-Saudi Joint Permanent Commission (JPC) will commence its forthcoming talks with a five-day meeting beginning on Sunday to explore ways and means to increase collaboration in various fields between the two countries.
“The meeting is very important. Both the Zambian and Saudi delegates want a win-win situation in the wake of the JPC meeting,” Zambian Ambassador Ibrahim Mumba said in an exclusive interview on Thursday.
Zambia stands to benefit from Saudi assistance and the Kingdom could potentially benefit from Zambia’s 14.5 million people as a new market for its products, such as petrochemicals and other investments.
Mumba said, “We drew up a Zambian plan to be presented during the meeting. It covers cooperation on health, tourism, investment, science and technology and tourism, among other aspects.”
As far as energy is concerned, Zambia benefits from the low prices in the world market, he said. “This is very important for development. It has a chain effect. With the low cost of energy comes cheaper investment prices for us, as well as cheaper labor costs.” On health, Mumba said Zambia wanted to establish more medical facilities and clinics throughout the country.
“The government wants to reach out to the furthest areas and deliver health care to our people. In this regard, we need assistance from the Kingdom and this could be made possible through the JPC,” he said.
Regarding youth development, he said Zambia has a development program but this “need(s) assistance, especially in terms of assisting your people to begin business ventures that could propel them and their communities economically. We have a ministry that takes care of youth development but we need further financial assistance for them in order to harness their full potential.”
On the tourism front, Zambia needs help to properly market its wide and varied tourism resources to attract both local and foreign visitors.
“What we need is a mechanism to promote tourism both ways in both countries, and in this way we’re looking forward to the positive outcome that could come from theJPC meeting,” Mumba said.
He suggested that one way to do this would be for Saudi Airlines to have a stopover in Lusaka on its way to South Africa from Jeddah, and vice versa.
“In this case, it would be easier for Zambians to visit Saudi Arabia for its tourist attractions as well as for those coming both for Haj and umrah and Haj,” he said. He noted that at present, visitors from the Kingdom go first to Dubai or Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, before taking their flight to Lusaka.
“The JPC committee is very important indeed. There’s much at stake and we’re looking forward to a favorable outcome,” Mumba concluded. The 24-member Zambian delegation to the JPC inaugural session will be headed by George K. Zulu, Foreign Affairs permanent secretary. Other members include members of the trade, energy, and economics departments.
source: http://www.arabnews.com / Arab News / Home / by Rodolfo C. Estimo Jr. , Riyadh / Sunday – March 01st, 2015
