The Zambia Association of Manufacturers(ZAM) has appealed to the European Union to support Zambian manufacturers to access the European Market by removing all non-tariff barriers that are blocking access to the European Market.
The Association President, Ashu Sagar said the conflict in Ukraine has provided an opportunity for businesses to look for alternative sources in the supply chain, including the local market and has called on the EU delegation to assist the Zambian manufacturers to leverage on this opportunity.
“While we know that the recent changes in Europe regarding the crisis with war has woken us up to look for alternative supply chains from our region as well,” he said
Mr. Sagar said the European Banking Authority EBA provides an opportunity for free trade in the European market and has called on the EU to ensure that the provisions of the EBA are emphasized in all platforms and help the manufacturers add value to their products and resources as they go back to Europe.
He has further appealed to the EU to help build knowledge and skills capacity by Zambian businesses to help them produce quality that meets the standards of the European market.
“Let us look towards building capacity in knowledge of developing the products and the quality that is required in the European Union. If we look to trade with that kind of incentive when we build our economies, when we build from this forum we definitely must look at the low hanging fruit,” he added
Mr. Sagar said this during the Zambia Association of Manufacturers presentation at the on-going Zambia-EU economic forum in Lusaka yesterday.
Meanwhile, Bankers Association of Zambia President, Mizinga Melu said the financial sector is ready to provide financial support to the business community in the various sectors to enable them succeed and contribute to economic growth.
Mrs. Melu has thanked the president for facilitating the forum as it sets to build strong relationships between Zambia and the European Union, which she said is important for the growth of the economy.
“As you rightly said Mr. President, Zambia is open for business and indeed may I say the Zambia financial sector which I represent this morning is open for business to facilitate economic growth.
She says Zambia’s investor confidence has grown over time as evidenced by the positive engagements with International Monetary Fund IMF and other positive economic changes such as the stabilized foreign exchange rates and the reduced inflation rates.
Mrs. Melu pointed out five key areas of access including; access to affordable finance, long term financing, access to local and international market, access to skills and business development and access to Business to Business and Business to the Government as the critical access areas necessary to facilitate growth of the private sector and pledged support to the government on their economic transformation plan.
She was speaking when she gave a vote of thanks during the on-going Zambia-EU Economic forum in Lusaka yesterday.
Appealing and begging from those that want to bring gayness here. We had a strong cultured president in ecl. Now we have a chola boy like hh who just smiles uncontrollably and nods in front of these westerners.
KZ……
You wake up thinking about homosexuality……….
Badala……….
We need to break the long held misconception that for an African economy to thrive you need to trade with Europe. Zambian manufacturers can’t even satisfy the local market. COMESA gives us an opportunity to make a mark and improve our capacity and quality of goods. Trade Kings is an example of a local manufacturer that’s playing an important role and must be supported. I’d rather the EU come to look for our goods than us begging to break into their market. Zambezi Gold is one such good product that doesn’t require to beg for a market. You can’t blame the EU for trying to protect their market, they have valid reasons. We can’t continue to knock on a door that doesn’t open, unless we’re out of our minds
The UK based Troll/Impostor is laying traps and you are taking the bait much to his excitement thereby distracting you from the article all together.
Am sorry but this is ridiculous! Why must we be begging for thecEU to support us? When is the begger mentality and dependency syndrome going to leave our thinking.
Is it any wonder that white people and Chinese people despise us? We are too lazy to think and come up with our own solutions. Instead, like the able bodied begger on the street, we go around with our plate begging for aid and support in things we have the capability to for ourselves. In the meantime we are busy stealing the same aid and support we receive through corruption!
What a joke!
This is just nonsencial you are treating these people like saviours similar to those in their bible they forced on you. I wonder why you dont have similar functions with African investors and companies …smart countries like Morocco, Kenya, RSA and Eygpt are busy trading with European huge Supermarket chains supplying all types of fresh fruit and veg packaged in their countries of orgin every week and you have these clueless The Zambia Association of Manufacturers(ZAM) talking about access to markets…you want the EU to supply you a cargo plane every week? Get serious go and visit the African counries I have mentioned instead of wasting time at talkshops.
Spaka my Stance on gays bothers you. Why is that? Are you out of the closet yet?
Zambia will not be developed by foreigners. That’s what needs to get between our thick skulls!
They have their own interests, and we think they are our parents who are obligated to support us?
Sorry people but this is just disgusting.
I hate it when I see “business” people and government officials asking for support and aid from foreigners.
Why don’t we see white Zambian business men running around with a beggar’s plate humiliating themselves and their people begging for aid? And yet they run the most successful businesses. What about thevasian business people in zambia? They just work hard and succeed. What about the Zambian businessman? He goes around looking for help to start and run his business. When he gets a million kwacha, he goes and buys a range rover and tries to…
Continued…..When he gets a million kwacha, he goes and buys a range rover and tries to build a mansion. Then his “business” dies and he goes and gets his begging plate once again to start begging for more. What a joke of a country!
@tarino actually the bible is not of European origin, but the Middle East. Its import to have facts before making pronouncements. I encourage you to do some research on the bible and on its reliability as an ancient document. Then compare that with other ancient documents.
Furthermore, the bible is forced on nobody. You can either reject it or accept it. And finally Europe itself is very much anti-bible today. That’s why homosexuality is loved in the west.
My friend, its very important to have facts and analyse them before making judgement. And especially if you are going to make judgement on a public forum.
“Ashu Sagar said the conflict in Ukraine has provided an opportunity for businesses to look for alternative sources in the supply chain, including the local market and has called on the EU delegation to assist the Zambian manufacturers to leverage on this opportunity.”
The opportunity is there but you want assistance for what …you are not serious but just lazy….you dont even know what you want EU will not open their whole market at the expense of their farmers but you can easily supply loads of products and crops that their markets can not produce but no you would rather read speeches asking for handouts. Go to a supermarket like Sainsbury, Asda or Aldi you will shocked to see that a small country like Israel is supplying avocados to these huge hypermarket chains you are busy…
s you are busy reading pointless useless speeches at some talkshop.
Wake up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Lubemba – To hell with that ..I want to focus on the article…go and pray I dont have time for that!!
Highly unlikely that countries in the EU will require any manufactured goods from Zambia. And even if they did, EU tariffs would make those goods very expensive.
The exception is for things that cannot be found in the EU, viz a viz, fruits such as avocado and mango which grow in tropical weather.
The right thing for us to do is trade within Africa. We have huge markets in DRC and Angola too. Our maize sales for nearly four times as much in DRC whilst Angola still gets most of its food from Brazil, and our minister was saying last week that we should be ready to export chicken to Saudi Arabia.
Problem nichani kansi?
I totally agree with # 3 and 14………
Let’s satisfy sndvdorminate the local markets first……..
The only thing the EU can assist is manufacturing technology and training and quality control training……….
Otherwise , first dominate local markets
#7 KZ…….
just say you are intrigued by homosexuality……..
What do they say about the person who smells the chishupu first ????.
Chiza Chirwa – it all depends on what products you want to export…plus you have so many products. You name 5 products that attract hefty tariffs and I can name 10 that don’t…let’s not look for excuses like that man in the article. The next generation of commercial farmers feeding the world will be from Africa.
@Tarino AKA that other guy.
Manufacturered product from outside the EU, all of them, have high tariffs.
The EU imports less than 10 percent of agricultural products. And nearly all trade is with South America, bananas, mangos and avocado.
There are opportunities, but nothing worth exploring in my view. As things stand, the EU only wants our minerals (which we are giving away nearly tax free).
I disagree with your statement about Africa feeding the world, if that was the case, we would have seen gradual improvement in Africa’s food exports outside of her borders.
The US and EU have high tariffs on agricultural exports, and they heavily subsidize their farmers to ensure food safety in case of a war.
They only import food for ‘luxury’ not out of necessity.
We need to focus on…
We need to focus on the regional markets. I find it unacceptable that a neighbouring country is importing food all the way from another continent and our response as a potential breadbasket for Southern Africa is to excite chicken farmers that their chickens MAY be sold to Saudi Arabia.
Mu Zambia namo.
#2 Ayatollah
#6 Tarino Orange –
1. Thank you to both of you for raising your points. The brutal truth is always needed in every endeavour.
There is too much crying about the lack of penetrating European markets. The influence or power to sell anything in this world is defined by a consumer. Because every consumer when he/she goes to the marketplace to buy a *Product or a *Service he/she gets to choose from a selection. And if you want your product or service to stand out or sell – you have to provide *Quality, *Excellence, *Value and *Consistency. You cannot tell the consumer that please just give me a fair chance and buy my product.
2. The truth is that there are a lot of businesses within the EU that find it hard to break into the market within the EU. UK has thousands of small & medium businesses trying to win business in the EU. So are other small and medium businesses from France, German, Italy, Greece etc all trying to win businesses within the EU block of nations. If you are exporting from Africa, you will still face the same competition to provide *Quality, *Excellence, *Value and *Consistency. The biggest drawback for African Products is the failure of (i) Quality Control. (ii) Packaging & (iii) Logistics. They fail to meet standards all the time.
3. For instance, the floristry is a big business industry in the western world. People buy flowers 24/7 in supermarkets. If your name is Mr Banda, Mr Mulenga, Mr Hangala or Mr Mundia and you farm rose flowers in Chisamba / Lusaka Province, you then take samples to the EU or UK and get an opportunity to meet the main Buyer + Distribution Company of flowers. He looks at your Rose Flowers and says:…. cont…
3.1 “”” Ok they look fine but when he smells them he says your roses have no strong scent. And he tells you that this is caused due to lack of proper storage places, moist, wrong temperature and long haulage time that makes the scent die. He looks across his office and hands you another sample which looks as good as yours, and when he asks you to smell it – you get the good scent. Finally, he says these Roses are from Vietnam and every woman who is given rose flowers smells them. Therefore, I cannot business with you. “” Good Luck!
Chiza Chirwa AKA Mr. Head in the sand chap – Yes we need to focus on local markets but we have the land and the manpower to satisfy a bigger, more lucrative market one supermarket chain like Asda Walmart has enough stores in just one city in the UK with a bigger footprint that is 10 times as bigger all the number of Shoprite stores in Zambia. Plus the benefits for knowledge transfer is vast in terms of manufacturing, standardisation, agriculture technologies etc.
In Kenya growing avocados is big business even for small scale farmers…to the point where farmers and their families take turns to guard their fruits prior to harvest season.
4. Spaka wrote this I yesterday that I have copied and pasted. And I thought to myself – Geeeees
All we need is strong president , belief , underpined by the rule of law , and powerfull trading blocks and nations will be forced to trade with us as equals………. By giving and taking in areas of trade……..
HH can strike the best Trade Deal in Europe worth $ 30 Billion to export Zambian Products, but if Zambians are not *creative, *consistent, *prepared *competitive, in producing and packaging good products – Well no consumer will buy the products in the EU Market Places. And that which HH secures as a Trade Deal will mean nothing. It’s as simple as that. And again it compounds down to the brutal truth Ayatollah & Tarino Orange have…
@24, my issue here is about rushing to a market that is far away and has strict requirements that farm produce needs to meet.
It remains a fact that there is no manufactured products that the EU would need from Zambia, in the same way that Zambia doesn’t need any manufactured products from South Sudan for instance.
Additionally, if we are failing to harness trade within the Southern region, why would we succeed in the EU?
I earlier spoke about agricultural products, we grow maize mostly, who would need that in the EU?
Chiza Chirwa – Dont you know that Maize Meal in 2kg Plastic bags is popular here in Pakisatani and African stores which is priced at £3, I bet you that corn is coming from US or Ukraine…dont you know that Cashew nuts are exported raw to India even from Zambia where they are processed and packaged for the EU market? Ghana grows Cashew nuts and have cut out India and are processing it themselves. Don’t you know that super hot chilli peppers are very popular here especially Scotch bonnet, Pot Barrackapore Chili Pepper, Trinidad Scorpion’, ‘Bhut Jolokia’, ‘Komodo Dragon’ and of course the ‘Carolina Reaper’ among the super-hot chillis…go to a supermarket and see who is the main exporter? Whilst you are sat pondering about tarrifs Morrocco which is partly a desert is growing them 24/7 in…
24/7 in Green houses in the desert…I remember how resilient these pepers are when I was growing up all they need is little water and will grow anywhere without the need for costly fertilisers.