. MUTATI

By SERAH MWANZA –
MINISTER of Finance Felix Mutati has assured the international community that Zambia is serious about prudent economic management and enhancement of domestic resource mobilisation.
The minister reiterated the assurance at several consultative meetings with different bilateral and multilateral development partners during the recently-held International Conference on Global Transit Guidelines held in Brussels, Belgium.
Mr Mutati also assured Senior Vice President of the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Kenichi Tomiyoshi, that as part of the process of ensuring prudent resource management, Zambia was willing to work with Japan to improve tax administration.
“We seek Japan’s cooperation in establishing a single-window at the Chirundu one-stop-border in order to minimise revenue leakages and enhance revenue collection to levels beyond 20 per cent of our GDP (Gross Domestic Product),” Mr Mutati said.
He said Zambia was also keen on the single-window initiative because it not only reduced transit processing time in the trade-value-chain but also increased border efficiency.
Once successfully implemented, the single window facility will entail that a number of Government agencies which cross-border traders and other border users interacted with reduced to the barest or a single point.
JICA was instrumental in the establishment of Africa’s first one-stop facility located at the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Mr Mutati appealed to JICA to assist in financing the remaining portion of the power interconnector between Southern and East Africa “in order to increase the pool of available power in the south-east development corridor and all the way to North Africa.”
And  Mr Tomiyoshi pledged the continued support of JICA to Zambia’s economic development agenda through promotion of productivity improvement programmes.
Meanwhile, World Customs Organisation secretary general Kunio Mikuriya pledged to make Zambia a regional showcase in the implementation of New Global Transit Guidelines.
Mr Mikuriya was speaking during a bilateral meeting between the World Customs Organisation and the Zambian delegation led by Mr Mutati.