Zambia, Sweden in council ties

FOUR Swedish officials are expected in Zambia next week to sign an agreement that will see the partnering of Luanshya Municipal Council (LMC) and Sweden’s Tyresö Municipality.

This is contained in a statement issued to the Daily Nation by Zambia's Deputy Ambassador to Sweden Nicky Shabolyo.

The four officials will be in Zambia between February 23 and March 10, 2018, during which they will sign an initial one year agreement on waste management with LMC.

This came to light when the officials paid a courtesy call on Zambia’s Ambassador to Sweden, Rose Salukatula at her office in Stockholm.

Coordinator of the initiative on twining the two towns, Helene Bergström said the partnership would be extended for another three years during which a different project focusing on knowledge exchange with vulnerable groups in areas of democracy would be embarked on.

Ms. Bergström said the project, sponsored by the Sweden-based International Centre for Local Democracy (ICLD) was two-way, in that it aimed at exposing women and children to the tenets of democracy as well as learn from the Zambian setup.

“We have applied to engage in a waste management project with the municipality of Luanshya for one year. We want to look at the possibilities of doing this after which we will apply for another three- year partnership project which could focus on vulnerable groups,” Ms Bergström said.

And Ms. Salukatula said she was impressed to learn that the project would cover waste management as this was one of the Zambian government’s priority areas.

She said the government had made strides in addressing problems posed by waste around the country but still needed support in areas of expertise and other resources.

The Ambassador pointed out that it was good that the initiative aimed at empowering women with knowledge about democracy as this would help them realise how they could participate in development.

Ms Salukatula noted that the project was progressive as it fell in line with government’s efforts of enhancing women participation in decision making and other national matters.

“Girls are also receiving special treatment in schools just to ensure that they advance in their education. So this initiative is welcome as it falls in line with government’s objectives,” she said.

Others in the group travelling to Zambia are Mats William Fält, Ingeborg Ulrica Sofia Riis-Pedersen and Lena Britt-Marie Lundberg Björk.

Tyresö is a municipality situated on the Baltic coast about 14 kilometres south-east of Stockholm, the Swedish capital.

Tyresö Municipality already has two twin towns, Cesis in Latvia and Savigny le Temple in France.

It ranks among the top 30 wealthiest out of the about 300 municipalities of Sweden.