PS International of the United States and Freshpikt Limited are expected to sign a letter of intent for a joint venture to invest US$42 million in tomato processing.
Freshpikt Limited is a local food processing and canning company which can compete locally and internationally.
The planned investment is part of the K480 billion worth of new investment expected to be signed during the 10th African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) forum at Mulungushi International Conference Centre.
Freshpikt Limited managing director Midge Drakes said PS International in a joint venture with Freshpikt Limited intends investing US$42 million in tomato processing between now and 2016.
This is contained in a media invitation letter to the Zambia Daily Mail and copied to the Freshpikt Limited board chairperson Chance Kabaghe in Lusaka on Monday.
Zambia is hosting the 10th AGOA forum from June 9 to 10, 2011 under the theme, ‘Enhanced trade through increased competitiveness, value addition and deeper regional integration’.
Mr Drake said Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry Felix Mutatiis expected to be guest of honour at the signing of the joint venture which will make Zambia a giant in tomato production and processing.
The signing ceremony, which is expected to take place tomorrow, will be attended by US trade ambassador Ron Kirk, US ambassador to Zambia Mark Storella along with several senior officials from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
“On behalf of the board of directors of Freshpikt Limited and PS International, I wish to take this opportunity to extend an invitation to you,” part of the letter read.
Mr Mutati announced that Zambian private companies are expected to sign 12 business joint-venture partnerships with counterparts from the US amounting to US$100 million.
The development is expected to create over 2,000 job opportunities for youths in Zambia.
[Zambia Daily Mail]
A good first step
Iyo muli ama fake projects mu zambia all in the name of deceiving the electorates.
Well done Zambia…. we are moving in the right direction
Well done Zambia…. we are moving in the right direction
We now can see the light at the end of the tunnel Kaunda used to tell us
Great news for the country – investing in agriculture. This is tangible development not fake 90 days abracadabra more money in your pocket which people like #2 would rather believe in.
Great news. Zambia is now attracting investment from the USA, one of the most competitive places to attract investment. This is great news. Well done Zambia. Moving in the right direction.
Be wary of countries that want to you to concentrate on Agriculture when there strength themselves is technological advancement. What they mean is’we stick to the technology while u grow food for us’. I dont mean to be racists or nationalist but to me a real Zambian company is one where atleast one of the main shareholders is an indigenous Zambia. Most of these foreign businessmen in Zambia dont even keep their money here.
#7 YABA are you a grade 4 drop out or what.. we have the resources to made money from our agriculture. not every business transaction is government linked, the companies that are involved here are pure private owned companies. and your issue about technology doesn’t hold any water, the USA has distinctive competencies in technology e.g silicon valley and we have a competitive advantage in agriculture e.g Freshpik as the case may be. we should be proud of Freshpikt rather than politicize everything.
#7 What exactly are you saying? You can have all the technology in the world ,but people will still have to eat! The global agriculture business is one of the biggest in the world. The US itself is a major food producer, exporter and consumer. Right now in Europe, where just the vegetable market is worth $2billion A WEEK, there is a lot of confusion and panic due to the food scare emanating from the E-coli outbreak. The Spanish are demanding compensation from Germany because they have lost a lot of money after their cucumbers were falsely blamed for bringing about the outbreak. Just because we are investing in agriculture does not mean we ignore other sectors of the economy. There is no reason why we can not have an economy that is highly depends on technology and agriculture.
Good move for our mostly grown vegetable – Tomato. Hope this will work to be a better market for our growers.
I have been in the us for 10 years. never heard of that company before. Google it and there is no information. watch out for scams. If us companies want to do business in africa they will.
that conference is a formality,.first of all, american businesses are very cautious business people. as much as they would want to do business in africa, africa is a risky market to them. secondly they will have to know the people they are doing business with. they will not just pick names from a hat.
We need such developments in Zambia.The majority of small-holder farmers in this country lack markets where they can sell their produce and with the coming of this project,we expect a financial push to our small-holder farmers.Iam passionate about small-holder farmers and when i saw this i was greatly impressed.