Opening the Economic Association of Zambia debut summit in Zambia’s tourist capital, Livingstone to run from 25-26 July, Trade Commerce and Industry Minister Christopher Yaluma said inclusive growth will eradicate poverty and inequalities. He said this in alignment to the theme of the davos styled economic summit dubbed The Future of Economic Diplomacy – Achieving Inclusive Growth and Sustainable Development.
Yaluma acknowledged obstacles to attaining inclusive growth which include poor infrastructure, outdated technology, high dependency on extractive industry, high cost of financing, lack of knowledge of markets and weak regulatory frameworks. He acknowledged the regional efforts that are being made to address these challenges of which the local think tank is striving to supplement.
Some of the efforts made mention of were transport linkages such as in the Lobito and Nakala corridor, Energy linkages through the Southern Africa Power Pool – SAPP that are aimed to enhance SADC value chains.
“The government of Zambia has prioritized infrastructure development such as roads, hydro power, railway and airport construction that will enable commerce and business existence,” Yaluma said.