By REBECCA MUSHOTA –
ZAMBIA will for many years continue to benefit from the foreign trips that President Edgar Lungu has undertaken, Foreign Affairs Minister Harry Kalaba has said.
Mr Kalaba said Zambia had benefitted from various foreign trips the President had taken and would continue doing so for a long time.
The minister also said that progress had been made in bringing cheaper fuel from Saudi Arabia as technocrats were now working on sealing the contracts.
Mr Kalaba was speaking yesterday when he featured on a special programme on Radio Phoenix.
He was responding to a question from a caller who was of the view that Mr Lungu’s revised foreign policy was costly for Zambians.
“The huge benefits that the country has continued to benefit and will continue to benefit for many years far outweigh the cost of flying President Lungu to those countries.
“We are still harvesting from the Chinese trip and from the trip to Jeddah (Saudi Arabia),” Mr Kalaba said.
He said Mr Lungu managed to clinch a deal to procure cheaper fuel from his trip to Saudi Arabia, a contract that was progressing well and would soon be operational.
Mr Kalaba explained that the reduced load-shedding the country was experiencing was as a result of President Lungu’s trip to Mozambique, which yielded other benefits as well.
He said, generally, the costs of the President’s accommodation as well as other expenses were settled by the hosting countries that the Head of State visited.
The minister said it was wrong to assume that Mr Lungu could be making some trips to earn an income through allowances.
Mr Kalaba advised that changing Government this August would result in a change of policies that would undo the work that Mr Lungu’s foreign assignments had yielded.
He also said Zambia was in good standing with the United Nations and was a member of the African Union Security Council, a position that the country was proud of and made certain foreign decisions based on its strategic position.