Zambia will uphold rule of law,  Lungu tells EU

Tue, 04 Jul 2017 11:12:19 +0000

By MICHAEL MIYOBA

ZAMBIA will continue to uphold the good governance and rule of law to create an enabling environment for investment to thrive.

President Edgar Lungu told a delegation from the European Union Parliamentary on the sidelines of the 29th  AU Ordinary Summit that development can only take place in an environment where there is tranquility   in which tenets of democracy are respected.

The President on the sidelines of the AU Committee of Ten meeting, ahead of the 29th ordinary summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The President said Zambia would continue working with the European Union to improve the living standards of ordinary people in areas of agriculture, health and education. EU wants to continue investing in Africa in areas of need and to meet the expectations of recipient countries.

And EU head of  delegation, Louis Mitchel said the organization was exploring best ways of supporting Africa in different areas of cooperation. EU wants to invest in the right areas according to the needs of the recipient country.

President Lungu was among several heads of state and government that attended the African Union committee of ten (C10) summit called ahead of the 29th Ordinary summit which started yesterday.

The meeting was called to follow up on the Committee of ten summit held in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea in May 2017.

During the opening session of the Summit, Chairperson of the C10 group, President Ernest Koroma of Sierra Leone commended President Edgar Lungu and other heads of state that attended the Malabo summit.  President Koroma called on members of the group to fully commit to the ideals of the group to achieve its mandate.

The summit later went into a closed session in which a report of the Malabo summit was adopted.

In an interview, President Lungu’s Special Assistant for Press and Public Relations Amos Chanda disclosed that the C10 leaders reaffirmed the position of the C10 summit to push for reforms in the UN Security Council.

Mr. Chanda revealed that a report of the Malabo summit which seeks to strengthen the levels of engagement by the C10 in the quest for permanent representation in the UN Security Council was adopted as a common position of the Committee of ten.

The AU committee of ten is a grouping of 10 countries drawn from each region of the continent mandated to spearhead Africa’s pursuit for permanent representation in the UN Security Council.