By SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT  –
ZAMBIA’S slot on the regional and international stage is set to go to greater heights following the election of Edgar Lungu as Zambia’s 6th Republican President.
Shortly after being elected President, Mr Lungu openly said that Zambia needed to up her game on the international stage.
True to his words, Mr Lungu has from the short period he has been at the helm, worked hard to ensure that Zambia’s ties with neighbouring countries and indeed the international community are boosted.
Just a few days after being elected and coming from a strenuous campaign trail, Mr Lungu realising the importance of the African Union (AU) summit never delegated the responsibility but made sure he was part of the important continental gathering.
The presidential election took place on January 20, 2015 and Mr Lungu’s trip to Addis Ababa was on January 29, 2015.
While at the AU summit, the Zambian president stole the limelight and many of his counterparts had to hold closed door meetings with him.
The high profile meetings were not only with African heads of States but other internationals cooperating partners.
Also worth noting is that President Lungu was given a very important task to mediate in the South Sudan conflict.
The conflict is between the South Sudan government and the rebel leader Riek Machar.
To this effect, Mr Lungu on the sidelines of the AU summit met both President Salva Kiir and Mr Machar, who is Sudan People’s Liberation Army and Movement leader.
To crown it all at the 24th AU summit, Mr Lungu was also given an opportunity to give a vote of thanks during the official closing ceremony.
In an interview with journalists before departure for Zambia at Bole International airport, Mr Lungu said the AU summit had been an eye opener to him on how resolved leaders were keen at solving the continents problems.
“It was an eye opener and gave me an insight of the desire by African Leaders in the quest to develop their countries. The leaders are so passionate on developing their countries,” he said.
After the AU summit, Mr Lungu on February 6, 2015 undertook another important trip to neighbouring Zimbabwe.
This was his first official State visit to a foreign country as Head of State since his election following the death of President Michael Sata.
The visit was meant to foster relations between the two countries and also brief President Robert Mugabe in his capacity as Chairperson for both the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) and AU and the developments in Zambia.
Mr Lungu held a more than four-hours long meeting with Mr Mugabe on the importance of regional integration in ensuring development in the region, among others.
Mr Lungu later told journalists after the meeting that that as a ‘new comer’ it was important for him to listen to the elders to learn from them and get wisdom.
The other trip was to Angola on February 13, 2015.
President Lungu was invited by Angolan president Jose Eduardo dos Santos to address Parliament in Angola on February 13.
President Lungu also witnessed the launch of the reconstructed Benguela Railways on Saturday, February 14, 2015, which is expected to boost trade between Zambia and Angola.
Mr Lungu thanked his Angolan counterpart for the extraordinary honour, which he said would greatly cement Zambia’s renewed relations with Angola.
He said he was humbled by the invitation, which he said was in line with deliberate steps undertaken by late president Sata, who upon assumption of power in 2011 assigned former president Kenneth Kaunda as special envoy to fully normalise Zambia’s relations with Angola.
The other visit worth noting as regards to enhancing bilateral relations was the visit by Tanzanian president Jakaya Kikwete who recently came to Zambia on a two day state visit.
As Zambia strives to have her position on the international stage recognised, it is important that she makes her voice heard.
With Zambia’s economy being the envy of its neighbours, the country should aspire to become a regional power house.
Zambia needs to start playing a more active and independent role in foreign Affairs.
The revised foreign policy will greatly help Zambia achieve this stance.
There is also great hope that international relations under the leadership of President Lungu would be boosted for the benefit of Zambia.
Past experiences have shown that Zambia and indeed Africa has not benefited from the vast natural resources the continent is endowed.
Most of the times developed countries have unfairly reaped off the African continent and ended up developing their countries.
There is need for African leaders, Zambia inclusive to resolve the issue of Illicit Financial Flows (IFF) responsible for the loss of US1.8 trillion from 1970 to 2008.
It is good that the Africa leaders in 2011 formed a high level panel on IFF aimed at addressing this thorny issue.
However, there is need for African leaders to quickly resolve this thorny issue which has greatly contributed to the underdevelopment of the continent.
It is good the during this year’s AU summit in Addis Ababa, African leaders declared full commitment to this cause.
According to the declaration issued at the summit, the leaders declared their commitment to end the chronic IFF and resolved to ensure that all financial resources lost through illicit capital flights and IFF are identified and returned to Africa.
It is also estimated the Africa counties to lose resources valued to a tune of US$150 billion annually through IFF.
There is no doubt that resources that are meant to develop Africa are being channelled or being used elsewhere to improve the economies in already developed countries.
It is therefore hoped that Zambia will put in much effort with other African countries to arrest IFF.
The political will so far shown by the Head of State gives much comfort that this will be attainable.
The millions of dollars which are being diverted elsewhere can be used to put up good roads, schools, hospitals and other social amenities.