President Mwanawasa says Zambia stands ready to support efforts aimed at reviving a cartel for Copper producing countries in southern Africa.
Mr. Mwanawasa said this is in an effort to create a fair price for the product on the international market.
Mr. Mwanawasa was speaking when former Namibian President Sam Nujoma paid a courtesy call on him at State House today.
President Mwanawasa advised Mr. Nujoma to use his current University geological
studies to lobby leaders of Copper producing countries in the region to revive the
initiative of creating a cartel.
‘Whilst you are studying at university, you should take advantage to prode those in
leadership in thes leading Copper producing countries in the region to create a
cartel because we want to create a fair price for Copper on the market,’ President
Mwanawasa said.
He recalled that when Mr. Nujoma was still president of Namibia, the two countries
brainstormed on the idea of forming a cartel among the countries.
And Mr. Nujoma said there is need for Namibia, Zambia, Angola and the Democratic
Republic of the Congo (DRC), that are the leading Copper producers in the region to
form a cartel to ensure that minerals are utilised for the benefit of the people in
the region.
Mr. Nujoma, who is a student of Economic Geology at the University of Namibia, is in
the country on a study tour.
Mr. Nujoma, however, recognised the role that information technology plays in
mineral development and marketing.
He acknowleged that the four copper producing countries were currently supplying the
world with the mineral which is widely used in technolological advancement.
‘This copper thast is coming from this region is used in cables for many
technological equipment, such as radios,’ Mr. Nujoma said.
‘Just after independence, then President Kenneth Kaunda, Zaireæs Mobutu Seseko and
Chile joined hands and formed a cartel, which however did not last,’ Mr. Nujoma
recalled.
Meanwhile, President Mwanawasa says his partnership with Mr. Nujoma, during hies
reign, materialised in development projects aimed at improving the economic stands
of the people in the two countries.
Mr. Mwanawasa said during Mr. Nujoma’s rule, Zambia and Namibia initiated the
Livingstone-Katimamulilo power interconnection project and conceived the idea of a
joint agriculture venture.
He revealed that the joint agriculture project in Sesheke between the two countries
is still on the drawing board and hoped that it would be fully implemented before
his second term of office expires.
Mr. Mwanawasa is happy that Mr, Nujoma has opted study economic geology, in an
effort to continue contributing to efforts of improving the welfare of the people in
the region than heavily involving himself in politics.
Meanwhile, immediately after meeting Mr. Nujoma, President Mwanawasa took time off
his busy schedule to visit the funeral house of his late friend Allan Phiri in
Lusakaæ Olympia Park residential area.
Mr. Phiri, 68, died on Sunday after an illness.
He is survived by a wife and three children.
ZANIS
