Source : Afriqueenligne, Panapress
Date de survenance : 26 au 28 octobre 2007
Date de première publication sur Internet : 18 octobre 2007
Annonce en français, texte intégral en anglais :
La Zambie va participer à la foire des produits miniers (et agricoles, et domestiques, etc.) en RD Congo, à Lubumbashi.
Lusaka, Zambie (PANA) - La Zambie va organiser une exposition commerciale et de produits miniers en République démocratique du Congo (RDC) du 26 au 28 octobre, de sources proches de l'Agence zambienne de développement à Lusaka.
(In English :
Zambia to participate in DR Congo's mining show !
Lusaka, Zambia - Zambia is to hold a trade and mining exposition in the Democratic Republic of Congo from 26-28, as part of her drive to push trade between the 2 countries to a new level, according to Zambia Development Agency sources in Lusaka.
The exposition would be held in Lubumbashi, the southern capital city of DR Congo's Katanga province and it will be held alongside "Porte Ouverte", which is the annual show for the mining industry in the region best known for its high output of copper and cobalt.
More than 50 Zambian companies have already indicated their willingness to participate in the Congo event.
Most of these companies are currently involved in the manufacture or sale of mining or ore processing equipment, miners' protective clothing and equipment, building materials like cement, roofing sheets and timber and spares and consumables for the mining industry such as explosives and detonators.
Other stands will showcase agricultural produce and manufactured foods as well as domestic applicances and consumer products like skin lightening soaps and creams.
DR Congo's southern province of Katanga is Zambia's second largest market for Non-Traditional Exports after South Africa which is the country's major trading partner on the continent.
In the first 5 months of the year Zambia recorded trade exports to Katanga valued at US$56.3 million and indications are that trade between the 2 partners is likely to surpass that of last year.
2 years ago Zambia, with the help of Market Access Trade and Enabling Policies - a USAID sponsored development agency involved in the current show - undertook a similar trade exposition in Angola that greatly doubled the volume of trade between the two countries.
As a result of the exposition Zambia has now been able to step up trade in foodstuffs including cassava and corn-flour.
News of the trade mission to DR Congo comes at a time when Zambia Development Agency acting director-general, Glyne Michelo, is expressing satisfaction with the direction in which his country's economy is headed.
According to Michelo the attainment of macro and micro-economic stability had done a lot to push up growth of the Gross Domestic Product, manage inflation and contain budget deficit.
These have resulted in Zambia now being a preferred destination for Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs).
Speaking in Lusaka at the launch of the World Investment Report of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Michelo observed that the good performance of the economy in recent years had fulfilled a pre-requisite for creating an attractive investment climate.
At a press conference he addressed earlier this week, President Levy Mwanawasa projected a GDP growth rate of over 7 percent for this year, reduction of inflation to 5 percent and reduction of Government's domestic borrowing to 1.2 percent or less of GDP while Gross International Reserves could go up to 2.5 months of import cover.
Under the UNCTAD World Investment Report Zambia is number 6 of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) that are receiving significant FDIs.
Overall the FDI inflows into Africa's LDCs amounted to US$8 billion compared to only US$5 billion in 2005.
Much of Africa's investment inflows continue to be driven by expansion or coming into being of new extractive industries. )
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