Zambian president expects more Chinese investors

LUSAKA -- Zambian President Edgar Lungu said on Wednesday that his government would like to see increased Chinese investment through private-public partnership in the southern African nation.

Lungu, speaking in an interview with Xinhua at his office ahead of his visit to China this week, said his government is trying to see how it could entice more Chinese firms to invest in the southern African nation through private-public investment.

"You see, currently the world has become a global village and mostly we are trying to see what we can get from our inter-state relationship and in so doing we have always striven for a win-win or mutual benefit result," said the president.

He said Zambia would like to have a situation where Chinese firms investing in Zambia take on board Zambian partnerships and in this respect Zambia is also trying to see whether it can entire more Chinese firms to come and invest in Zambia by way of private- public partnership.

The Zambian leader is expected to attend the 2015 Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) annual conference, which will also be attended by other leaders.

BFA is the most prestigious and premier forum for leaders in government, business and academia in Asia and other continents aimed at sharing visions on the most pressing issues. This year's theme is "Asia's New Future: Towards a Community of Common Destiny. "

The Zambian president further said his government was keen to have Chinese partnership in the tourism industry so that the country could also benefit from the increasing Chinese tourists coming to the African continent.

"I will talk about tourism for example, we will look at this carefully and see how we can partner with the Chinese to higher levels so that the Chinese tourists do not just end up in our neighboring countries but end up in Zambia as well," he added.

While appreciating Chinese investment in Zambia, the Zambian leader indicated the need for constant dialogue and interaction between leaders of the two countries to share experiences and ideas.

Zambia, he said, offers great investment opportunities for foreign investors due to a number of factors such as prudent economic management, political stability, good governance and consistent economic growth of around 6.3 percent per annum in the last 10 years.

"The government is determined to continue with this projection of growth going forward and it is for this reason that I would like to believe that Zambia is indeed a right place to come to in terms of investment for now and the future," he added.

China has so far invested a total of $2.6 billion in various economies of Zambia, employing about 50,000 locals.