Zambia to continue supporting peace efforts to regional conflicts – Lungu

Fri, 31 Mar 2017 13:53:35 +0000

By OSCAR MALIPENGA

ZAMBIA, as a member of the African Union Peace and Security Council, will continue to support efforts aimed at finding lasting solutions to regional conflicts, says President Edgar Lungu.

Speaking on Wednesday evening during a State Banquet hosted in honour of Ethiopian Prime minister Hailemariam Desalegn, President Lungu said that  during Zambia’s tenure in the Council, he looked forward to working closely with Ethiopia in resolving the various conflicts on the Africa continent, particularly within the respective sub-regions.

And President Lungu has commended the Ethiopian government for the critical role that it had continued to play in safeguarding peace, security and stability in the east African region.

President Lungu said it was Zambia’s quest to promote peace and security by ensuring the silencing of guns on the African continent by the year 2020.

“Therefore, our strong brotherly bonds should transform our historical political ties into firm commitments and dedication to increased social economic cooperation between our two countries while sharing our best practices, which should lead to enhanced social and cultural interaction between Zambia and Ethiopia.

“This will be reflective of the African union agenda 2063 which encourages greater harmonisation and integration of the continent through increased bilateral trade and investment thereby reducing inequality and poverty levels by the year 2063,” he said. The Head of State said the just ended inaugural session of the Zambia/Ethiopia Joint Permanent Commission of cooperation should set the two countries on a strong path to enhanced cooperation in various sectors of our economies such as energy, agriculture and livestock, aviation, trade and industry, finance and health.

President Lungu said he was confident that the recently signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Zambia chamber of commerce and industry (ZACCI) and the Addis Ababa chamber of commerce and sectorial association would serve to boost trade and investment activities between our two countries.

“This will also increase trade missions for enhanced contacts with our private sector,” he said.

President Lungu applauded the Ethiopian government for the great strides made in economic development, to position the country as one of the fastest growing economies in Africa in the last decades with average growth rates of over 10 per cent.

The Head of State said he was pleased to state that at the multilateral level, at fora such as the African Union and United Nations, Zambia and Ethiopia shared common positions on climate change, terrorism, sustainable development, peace and security and human rights.