President Hakainde Hichilema officiated the 68th Copperbelt Agricultural and Commercial Show, branded as the ‘Copperbelt Agricultural Mining, Industrial, and Networking Expo 2023,’ in Kitwe. Themed “Unlocking Opportunities for Growth: Zambia’s Land-Linked Position,” the event showcased the country’s strategic advantages and opportunities in agriculture, mining, and trade.
In his keynote address, President Hichilema emphasized Zambia’s unique geographical position, bordered by eight neighboring countries and connected to a ninth, Burundi, via Lake Tanganyika. This strategic location is bolstered by key transport corridors, including the Lobito, Tazara, Walvis Bay, Durban, and Nacala corridors, which facilitate efficient and cost-effective access to international markets.
“The high demand for critical minerals essential to the energy transition underscores Zambia’s strategic land-linked position, making it a significant contributor to our economic transformation agenda,” said President Hichilema. “The Expo has reaffirmed our vision of the Copperbelt being on a revival path toward economic transformation.”
The Expo provided a platform for stakeholders to demonstrate their potential across various sectors, highlighting Zambia’s rich agricultural and mineral resources and its capacity for trade and industrial growth. President Hichilema noted that economic development is crucial for realizing tangible economic benefits and that the government’s role is to create a stable and predictable environment that stimulates economic growth.
“As a government, we are currently on the right trajectory,” President Hichilema stated, expressing optimism about the country’s economic future. The event underscored the importance of collaborative efforts to leverage Zambia’s land-linked position for sustainable economic development.
The Copperbelt Agricultural and Commercial Show continues to be a pivotal event, bringing together industry leaders, investors, and stakeholders to explore and capitalize on Zambia’s abundant opportunities.
The transformation of the Copperbelt Agricultural & Commercial Show into CAMINEX has reduced this historic annual event to a gathering of the elite. If you exclude government and quasi government institutions you’ll remain with perhaps less than 20 exhibitors when this event used to previously attract beyond 200! Farmers who are the owners of this show no longer look forward to the event. Even when entry is free, I doubt if the current has had more than 5,000 visitors when in the past there were hundreds of thousands despite the high entry fees. Let’s introspect, is it working for us?
And the place is not what it used to be… overgrown with grass and other wild plants.
And yet KCM halt production months ago and every time you go into the plant you will have scores of KCM employees sunbathing everyday.
If you don’t believe me visit KCM,do not visit KCM corporate office but visit open pit or TLP or the smelter or any other department,there’s no production at all,the whole KCM plant looks like a ghost town.
KCM almost failed to pay it’s employees this month until the UPND MP intervened,but for how long?
That’s how it is if your govts since so called independence CANNOT put their house together, own & run professionally & profitably their natural resources. All they have been doing is to beg for foreign investor to come & so called invest who export unfinished products instead of us producing things like bullets & exporting them at good prices. African leaders fipuba sana kwena. That’s some of us DO NOT believe in anyone of them these ( politicians )educated fat cat for slaves of the west. THE WORST ENEMY TO ANY AFRICAN CHILD IS HIS POLITICAL LEADER.
The New Darkness
And he is still ignoring the Zesco issue
Wouldn’t it be nice if he too experienced loadshedding
Zambia is always showcasing its potential, its “Ugly” politics, its lazy citizens, government included. Never a finished product. If we pick an MP or Presidents from the same pool of lazy people, what do we expect???
A wise man once told that if you finalise a deal and opposite party is happy and smiling, know that you have been F’d. We are not squeezing the mines enough. Those investors should be complaining.
HH you rock like Nelson Mandela . Keep delivering to take us from the rotten place where PF left us.