MIXED expressions characterised President Edgar Lungu’s foreign trips in the recent past weeks, with some critics arguing that these are wasteful expenditure while others saw the trips as beneficial to the country.
The major foreign trip undertaken by President Lungu thus far was in China, where various bilateral agreements were signed, that will in the long run benefit Zambia.
What underpins these trips by leaders, past and present, can be defined properly and applicably on parameters of bilateral economic ties by nations.
Global economic watchdog – Economic Watch – views bilateral economic relations as critical to growth and development of an economy.
Experts concede that in the current global economic scenario, both developed and developing countries can no longer afford to restrict economic activities within the home economy.
Therefore with growth or globalisation and liberalisation, countries find it advantageous to forge economic relations with other nations.
This has been the case between Zambia and China as seen in the past years, where the Communist State’s investment has reached around US$3 billion in 2014.
More investment support is still in the horizon, as China pledges continued good relations enhanced by President Lungu’s recent visit to that country.
The Chinese envoy in Zambia, Yang Youming sees Mr Lungu’s visit as a trigger to continued flow of investment exemplified by Chinese President, Xi Jinping and Mr Lungu who had in-depth discussions on matters of mutual benefit.
Some of the major benefits of bilateral economic relations are advantages of cost, economies of scale, and employment.
Many countries across the globe have established strong bilateral economic relations with other countries as these help developed nations to access the markets of developing countries.
This is beneficial for the industries of the developed nations as they can penetrate the markets of various countries.
Developing nations like India and China have also gained significantly from bilateral economic relations with other countries, with the two being the frontrunners in establishing new global markets in Asian continent.
The biggest advantage for the developing nations from bilateral economic relations is in the form of employment generation.
With the inflow of capital to developing countries, economic activity is boosted resulting in the growth of the economy.
In the case of undeveloped economies, bilateral economic relations help them to get economic aid and loans for development projects.
This can be evidenced by the various infrastructure development being undertaken in various sectors, road, health, education and the backbone of the economy, mining.
These ventures as alluded to earlier, cannot be managed from pulling resources gained locally, it requires a wider scale of collaboration which is driven by bilateral ties.
One of the major components of bilateral economic relations is bilateral trade.
The trade of goods and services between two countries help both the participating countries to reap benefits by exporting goods and services which are produced in excess and importing those where there is a shortfall.
Bilateral trade brings down cost of production of those goods and services for which there is comparative disadvantage in an economy.
In the era of globalisation, many countries have opened up their economy to foster bilateral trade thus regulatory relaxations along with relaxations in import excise and customs play an important role where bilateral trade is concerned.
Several bilateral trade agreements have been signed between nations that will spur growth in the long run.
There is vast impetus for economic growth arising from international engagements by a Head of State that is why a blunt and negative perception of such is not a cordial approach to matters as has been observed in the country.
Zambia is obviously going to rip benefits from these trade partnerships with the developed world and it is not the future of tomorrow that is being taken care of through these efforts but building a Zambia that will benefit upcoming generations. OPINION