PRESIDENT Hakainde Hichilema says foreign entities which come to invest in Zambia should not only extract minerals but also process them within the country to add value.

And President Hichilema has expressed his appreciation to Sweden for supporting Zambia in the debt restructuring talks, urging that country to continue with the support.

Speaking when the Swedish delegation led by Head of the Africa Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sweden Mikael Lindvall paid a courtesy call on him yesterday, President Hichilema said his government welcomed investments in different sectors to grow the economy much faster.

“We are glad that we have this delegation because one of our focal issues in the economic restructuring is to drive investment, to drive trade so that we grow the economy much faster. But to do that we obviously welcome investment in different sectors. Once the investors come through, we want them to come to us as hosts for different reasons. Hosts for natural resources, for example physical minerals but also for our geo-position, so many things of infrastructure, logistics are important to us. If you come to the sectors such as mining, green energy, we will like you to come with the best technology. To come with the best technology so we can help grow the businesses that you are investing in. Secondly, to mobilise capital which is fairly priced. I think you’ve heard this message from me several times, to make sure that we work in a joint venture,” President Hichilema said.

“The best insurance policy we can have for sustainable business, longer term is in working together, having vested interest with each other. We don’t want to continue the century old [practice] where we were looking at Zambia and Africa as an extraction for raw materials but to process in the country. You go to the Copperbelt, looking at minerals, we do have a resource in government but we need partners that are willing to invest, to extract, to process, to add value that will come round to accelerate economic growth for jobs, business opportunities for health, education. I hope amongst yourselves you will attract people in agriculture as well, food production is important to us”.

And President Hichilema expressed his appreciation to Sweden for supporting Zambia in the debt restructuring talks.

“Our bilateral relationship has been long standing for many years. And also to articulate our appreciation as a country for the support that we got from Sweden in many fronts on our bilateral programmes but also on the multilateral programmes on the Zambia debt restructuring project which is being very much appreciated and the G20 framework. We did make progress because of the support of many countries including Sweden. So, we are very grateful for that,” said President Hichilema.

“But also, to encourage you to continue pushing that support because we are working to sign the individual country agreements on the official credits side but also the private creditors side. We are hoping we can continue getting that support from Sweden to put that to bed which has been constraining our economic restructuring agenda, overall. So, we are thankful for that”.

And Lindvall said Sweden wanted to enhance its partnerships with Zambia in the areas of trade and investment, with a particular focus on sustainable mining.

“We and Zambia enjoy longstanding excellent, solid relationships. We are also well aware that Zambia has a very positive force in the region, and we also see you as an important partner in international efforts to strengthen democracy and respect for human rights worldwide. The reason why we are here today with a large delegation is because we are focusing on increasing our partnerships when it comes to business, trade and investment and with a particular focus on sustainable mining. Tomorrow the delegation will travel to Kitwe,” said Lindvall.