Zambia has today signed two Memoranda of understanding with the United Arab Emirates for mineral resource exploration between the two countries, as well as enhancement of support to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
The signing ceremony, held at State House, was presided over by President Hakainde Hichilema and visiting United Arab Emirates Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sheikh Shakboot AL Nahyan.
Minister of Small and Medium Enterprise Elias Mubanga signed the 15 million United States dollars Khalifa Fund for SMEs while Minister of Mines Paul Kabuswe signed the MoU on mineral exploration.
President Hichilema urged the teams from Zambia and the United Arab Emirates to speed up the implementation of the agreements, emphasizing that the government is in a hurry to reconstruct the economy and improve delivery of key social services to the citizens.
He added that Zambia is particularly interested to collaborate with the UAE and learn from them how they have managed to attain development for their country, using their natural resource base, which he described as admirable.
The Head of State said as part of government’s transformation agenda, technology forms part of the drive towards development and that the UAE becomes a critical partner for the country.
And Sheikh Shakboot AL Nahyan, the UAE Minister of State for foreign Affairs said the UAE wants to deepen its relationship with Zambia by collaborating in many areas, while strengthening ties in an already existing relationship.
Sheikh AL NAHYAN says Zambia has been welcoming and the UAE is very comfortable to strengthen the relations.
Meanwhile, Minister of Small and Medium Enterprise Development Elias Mubanga said the 15 million United States dollars from the KHALIFA Fund will boost the capacity of SMEs to do business, especially small scale farmers.
Mr. Mubanga however observed that the ministry will need additional technical support to SMEs as his ministry plans to set up an incubation center for SMEs in the country.
Just watching.
Zambia has been mining for over a hundred years now, it doesn’t make sense that HH, Kabuswe and Mubanga should sign agreements to learn from UAE. We’re now even allowing counties like this to dominate us? Jesus wept! We’ve been on this path before and nothing has ever worked for Zambia. Zambians want mining licenses, they’re literally begging for them in their own country yet their government can’t grant them their wish. They’d rather give foreign entities. What kind of people are we?
By the time he leaves office, State House will be a museum of MoUs.
What do you mean by “countries like this”? The UAE is much richer than Zambia so they can pour liquidity into your ventures. UAE is even richer than the UK
Here we go again. ..signing nonsensical MOUs that wont yield anything …HH is a joker of a President
Zambia’s Mining Licenses backlog is to be cleared by July 2023
According to the PS of Mines, the Current status:
Large-scale Mining Rights 5 out of 20 (25% application success rate), Large Scale Exploration Licences 150 out of 254 (59% application success rate), Small Scale Mining Licences 21 out of 100 (21% application success rate), Small Scale Exploration Licenses 145 out of 238 (61% application success rate), Artisanal Mining Rights 152 out of 188 (81% application success rate) and Mineral Processing Licences 5 out of 8 (63% application success rate).
The high rejection rate among small-scale mining applications is attributed to failure to comply with requirements. If you can’t comply with the application, how do you manage the mining?
And don’t forget that organizing these MOU events cost tax payers money and more allowances paid..logistics..accomodation etc and at the end of the day what do we get..nothinh…just a 2 hour event like this where the President is in attendance can cost US$300000 or more
We have people leading us who are just interested in selfies selling our resources. So another mine has been sold, we just need to wait for the announcement.