By HELEN ZULU-

SICHINGA

THE Cross Border Traders Association (CBTA) have called on Government to come up with policies that will protect the Zambian market and not to  allow third country importation  of goods.
CBTA president Felix Daka said there was need for the Government to come up with policies that would protect the Zambian market.
Mr Daka said many foreign traders were taking advantage of the weakness of the permits in Zambia.
He was speaking at the CBTA Strategic Planning Workshop hosted by Agri-ProFocus Agri-Hub Zambia in collaboration with the Honorary Consulate of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Lusaka yesterday.
He noted that agricultural product traders were facing a lot of problems compared to other countries importing from Zambia.
“The challenges are just too many that they need urgent engagement of policy makers, the problems include, third country importation of goods, and unfair importation of agricultural products against export and among others.
“First of all we are asking our Government to come up with policies that will protect the Zambian market by not allowing third country import of goods,” Mr Daka said.
He said Zambian traders needed a policy that would protect the Zambian market against flooding of commodities from the Middle East and Asia that had created unnecessary competition and prevent the siphoning of dollars from the banks.
Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry Robert Sichinga urged the CBTA executive to engage and work with the Government through his ministry towards fostering economic growth in the country.
Mr Sichinga appealed to CBTA and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to take the strategic plan seriously as it would guide or direct them through their business growth.