By NATION REPORTER
ZAMBIA needs to set up a task force to tap into the multi-billion-dollar Electric Vehicle (EV) industry former Ambassador to Germany Anthony Mukwita has said.
Mr Mukwita said preparatory meetings with giant automobile makers such as BMW had already been done by himself and the rest was up to the current government to dust off the reports and recommendations and start making money for the country.
“All we need for a start is to earn or target just a billion dollars annually from the industry that was valued at about US$168 billion two years ago and projected to grow to over US$800 billion by 2030 according to industry studies we have in possession,” he said.
He said the country needed to form a task force to engage companies such as BMW, Tesla, VW and Mercedes Benz to start growth negotiations now to benefit it future.
Mr Mukwita said country could shake off the poverty yoke if it added value to copper and cobalt, manganese, and lithium instead of exporting them raw.
He suggested giving the major automobile companies space in multi facility economic zones where they would enjoy some incentives that came with MFEZs to create jobs, skills transfer and reduce poverty.
“We already started the groundwork it’s now up to the current administration to move the envelope forward,” said Mr Mukwita
He also said Zambia could reduce its dependence on grants and loans from abroad if they made agriculture attractive and encouraged the more than 50 percent youthful population to engage in agriculture.
He added, however, that money had to be made available cheaply for agriculture to thrive as well as lowering costs of inputs and production such as fertiliser.
Mr Mukwita said Zambia could emulate countries like Israel, which was small, on rough terrain but earned more than half a billion dollars annually from agro exports.
Mr Mukwita said Zambia needed to target feeding the entire over 500 million COMESA population that had a combined GDP of almost US$1 billion in spending power.
Mr Mukwita added that once the country got its game right in agriculture which was more sustainable, long term and labour intensive and highly profitable, it would forget about engaging the IMF for a billion dollar bailout package.
