COPEHAGEN: An efficient railway line network will help boost international regional trade and turn Zambia into a giant trading hub, a Zambian diplomat Anthony Mukwita said at a business event in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Mr Mukwita, Zambia’s Deputy Ambassador to Sweden said this at the event that was held at the Copehagen Business School to show-case the investment opportunities that exist in Zambia and other African countries, which Nordic states companies need to participate in.
“Zambia is already a flag carrier as far as rule of the rule is concerned.
“we are a great corporate governance citizen and our continued stability remains an attraction to investors. An efficient railway system could be the icing on the cake as we expand economic diplomacy,” Mr Mukwita said.
The diplomat told business experts and potential investors that President Edgar Lungu’s continued government works to improve the Kenneth Kaunda International Airport (KKIA) would boost regional trade but the railway line will double the head of State’s investment plans in the long run.
Mr Mukwita said there was need to remove excess trucks off Zambian roads in order to slash costs of wear and tear of roads, including the needless loss of human life caused by expensive road traffic accidents.
And Chief Executive Officer of the influential Nordekon, a Danish company that connects African businesses and diplomats with Nordic businesses, Flemming Sorensen agreed that Zambia had a lot going for it in terms of being a viable investment destination.
“There is a good environment for investment in Zambia which we would like to encourage by taking more potential investors to the country,” said Sorenson who has been to Zambia on investment tours with his organisation also known as Africa Innovation Network or AIN.
AIN touts itself as the largest network for Nordic interests in Africa, which holds a minimum of five annual business seminars for diplomats and Nordic business people.
Mr Mukwita said investment areas in Zambia were ripe in the following areas of:
•    agriculture due to huge amounts of uncultivated virgin arable land that remained scarce in Nordic states, plus huge water tables in the region and abundant youthful labour.
•    Opportunities abound in the tourism sector that must include hoteliering as the number of good tourist beds remained deficient, therefore, providing an opportunity for investment, especially for Nordic countries that have access to cheap money.
•    Mining which he said still had potential of further growth as the Zambian Government continues to fight poverty through job creation.
Mr Mukwita said events like the one organised by Florence Christensen, a Danish of Zimbabwean and Zambian descent were a vital networking tool that could help bridge the business divide between the north and south that must be encouraged.
In his presentation, Mr Mukwita said the predominantly youthful population Zambia has means it had a head-start from other countries on the continent.
The youthful population that is more than 50 percent means a ready market and ready labour for the future.
“A railway link that works is perhaps the missing link in the whole puzzle but all looks well for the future because President Lungu is openly encouraging Economic Diplomacy in all areas,” Mr Mukwita said.
He expressed hope that discussions between the Royal Kingdom of Sweden, Business Sweden and Bombardier to invest in Zambia Railways could answer the business case for transportation of goods efficiently.
Zambia’s economic diplomacy has increased on the back of President Lungu said Mr Mukwita.
Since re-election, President Lungu, the chief diplomat traversed the breath and bound of Africa and beyond to sale Zambia as an investment destination in a more aggressive manner unseen in over a decade.
The event in Copehagen organised Christensen’s run NGO Consultancy Afrika was entitled: Looking South: Doing Sustainable Business in Southern Africa.