By MILDRED KATONGO –

UNITED Party for National Development (UPND) leader Hakainde Hichilema has said that there is need to market Zambia and explain opportunities in order to attract more investment in the country.

Mr Hichilema said Zambia has vast opportunities for investment into projects that would help diversify agriculture in areas of value-addition.

This is according to a statement made available to the Times of Zambia yesterday.

He said this in a statement after he addressed Zambians living in South Africa and representatives from the South African Chamber of Commerce.

Mr Hichilema said the aim of having forums was not to spread ‘doom and gloom’, but to have an open and honest discussion about how to remove any current barriers to investment and the need to move forward.

“We enjoyed meeting many of the audience members in the interactions that followed, and we talked a lot about the various opportunities and challenges that exist in the region currently. It is clear that there is untapped appetite for investing more into the Zambian business sector,” he said.

He said that the meeting discussed various sectors notably agriculture and the ambitions for double digit growth and investment attraction into the country.

Mr Hichilema said despite Zambia having the potential to woo investors it was understandable that it had a power crisis and the exchange rate was volatile.

He said there was need to sort out the challenges in the energy sector that would not drive up costs and create added certainty.

Mr Hichilema also said that adding value locally could lower pressure on food prices and exchange rate and create additional jobs.

“We are always forming our policies based on consultation and again what we are hearing is that more investment can be brought into Zambia but we need to do three things better: Firstly Marketing our country and defining the opportunities, Providing stable and clear business regulations and Sort out problems in the energy sector that drive up costs and create added uncertainty,” he said.

He said a stable and conducive environment for business was well within reach if the country cuts the waste, the red tape and reduces the time and cost of securing various permits.