By CHATULA KANGALI –

GOVERNMENT has said there is need for Zambia to change economic management by being open to new ideas that will translate into value addition, economic diversification and prosperity.
Commerce, Trade and Industry Minister Margaret Mwanakatwe said if the country remained accustomed to the current economic structure of over-dependency on commodity exports, meaningful development would not be achieved.
“If we do not change our culture of economic management, any talks of innovation and diversification to foster value addition will not be achieved,” she said.
Ms Mwanakatwe was speaking during the Zambia International Trade Fair (ZITF) business forum at Mukuba Hotel in Ndola yesterday.
She said her ministry had embarked on promoting local value addition and was currently supporting more than 1,200 projects in the country.
The minister said the Government was transforming the cooperative movement from agro-based through a broader sectoral and business approach.
She said her ministry had since started reviewing the Cooperative Department Strategy to align it to the objectives of its statutory bodies.
“We are also streamlining the registration of cooperatives to that of PACRA in order to improve and make it a broader business,” she said.
Ms Mwanakatwe said despite the country’s economic outlook being positive, there was need for Zambia to scale up local processing and add value to agricultural products to generate higher returns from exports.
She said the Government had released funds to build industrial yards in designated areas in the country.
Ms Mwanakatwe said the industrial yards would target wood works, metal fabrication, agro and gemstone processing.