NorthWest best for investment - PS

NORTH-WESTERN Province is strategically positioned for trade and has a huge market especially agricultural products, area Permanent Secretary Willies Mangimela has said.

Mr Mangimela said the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Angola and Namibia were readily available markets for the Zambian agro products.

He said it was in this vein that Government was inviting investors to put their money in various sectors of the economy.

He said in exposing the investment potential, the provincial administration early this held an investment expo dubbed Expo North West Zambia 2019.

He was speaking when the Department for International Development (DFID) Regional Trade Advisor Iain Frienkel called on him at his office yesterday.

Mr Mangimela said the areas of focus included agriculture, mining, tourism, forestry, infrastructure development as well as agro-forestry processing. ‘’And by doing so, we are trying to call upon local and foreign investors to come and invest in the region,’’ he said.

He said the intention of the province was to ensure that whatever was produced did not leave the province in the raw form but must be processed. Mr Mangimela assured the nation that the province had readily available land for any form of investment. ‘’And our traditional leaders are ready to give out land to any would be investor. It is just the matter of choosing the area one want to invest in,’’ he said.

And Mr Frienkel said his coming into Zambia was to have an understanding of the investment opportunities in the country so that the department of trade could attract British investors.

He however advised that the Zambian government should embark on regional trade because of its positioning.

And Expo North West Zambia 2019 coordinator Christopher Bwalya said the province was richly endowed with natural resources which were not fully exploited.

He said number one priority for the province was to ensure that value chains were development.