Sat, 10 Feb 2018 11:32:54 +0000
By BENNIE MUNDANDO
JAPAN has selected Zambia to be among the three African countries targeted for agriculture development.
Japanese Parliamentary vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, Manabu Horii said his Government had picked Zambia together with Kenya and Senegal because of its potential in the sector.
Mr. Horii said Japan had already appointed a senior agriculture advisor under the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) who would soon be sent to Zambia as part of enhancing development cooperation and support to the sector.
He said Japan would endeavour to assist Zambia realise her development agenda by encouraging Foreign Direct Investment and technical support.
“Zambia should count on Japan because the government stands ready to support the country’s development agenda as espoused in the Seventh National Development Plan (7NDP). We also look forward to quality Oversees Development Assistance (ODA) in various sectors including agriculture,” Mr. Horii said.
And Ministry of Foreign Affairs permanent secretary for international relations and cooperation, Chalwe Lombe said Government was happy that Zambia and Japan shared common interests and goals for development as could be seen in the SNDP and the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD).
He said Zambia looked forward to receiving the senior agriculture advisor especially that Government had placed the agricultural sector top in the five year blue print, the 7NDP.
Earlier, Japan and Zambia held a policy dialogue that wouldserve as a platform for bilateral cooperation.
During the dialogue, Japanese Foreign Affairs Assistant Minister and Director General for Africa, Takeshi Osuga said his government wanted to increase development cooperation with Zambia in agriculture, manufacturing, strengthening economic infrastructure and social sectors.
Mr. Osuga said he was confident that Zambia would grow its economy if it stuck to the development plan especially diversification of industries which also happened to be on the TICAD agenda.
