By HELEN ZULU –
THE Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA) aimed at enhancing effectiveness and efficiency in service delivery in facilitating investors.
ZDA acting director general Cecilia Nyalugwe said ZDA had come up with an initiative to engage and enhance cooperation with its key stakeholders by way of establishing Service Level Agreements (SLA) or MoU.
Ms Nyalungwe said ZDA believed that at the core of the agency’s objective, was private sector participation hence the move to partner with ZEMA to enhance effectiveness and efficiency in service delivery.
She was speaking during the signing of the MoU with ZEMA in Lusaka last week.
“In line with the Seventh National Development Plan whose developmental agenda is premised on industrialization and job creation, ZDA, will play a key role in ensuring that Government’s planned objective on job creation and industrialization is successfully achieved.
“In the quest to enhance effectiveness and efficiency in service delivery, ZDA has come up with an initiative to engage and enhance cooperation with our key stakeholders by way of establishing SLA which we have signed,” Ms Nyalugwe said.
She said ZEMA which was one critical stakeholder in as far as facilitating investors was concerned.
“We are pleased to have the signing of the MoU with you ZEMA, as you know one of our key mandates as ZDA is to facilitate for economic and development of Zambia through investment and trade promotion.
“In performing our mandate we assist in securing from any state institution like ZEMA any permission, exemption, licensing and any other requirements for the purposes of establishing or operating a business enterprises.
“This MoU is in line with best investment promotion practices, we have identified ZEMA as a key stakeholder in facilitation process of investment,” Nyalugwe said.
ZEMA director general John Msimuko said it was the institutions desire to improve service delivery to local and foreign investors in the country.
“As ZEMA we are pleased to enter into this MoU with ZDA, it is our desire that through the MoU, the service delivery to local and foreign investors is going to be improved and we look forward to a fruitful partnership as we go forward and improve service delivery to our investors, “ he said.