The World Bank said Tuesday that it was keen to provide technical assistance to Zambia’s public-private initiative to accelerate the further opening of the regional trade corridor.
Victoria Kwakwa, the World Bank Group Vice-President for East and Southern Africa, said opening up the regional trade corridor has prospects for Zambia’s exports and foreign exchange.
The World Bank official was speaking during talks with Zambia’s Finance and National Planning Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane on the sidelines of the 2023 International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Group Spring meetings in Washington DC in the United States (US), according to a statement from the ministry.
She further said the socio-economic dividend related to investment in sectors like agriculture, green energy development and mining should manifest through more jobs, livelihoods and tangible contributions to the growth of Zambia’s economy.
On his part, the Zambian minister called on the World Bank to provide technical assistance for logical chain initiatives related to railway infrastructure through public-private partnerships so that reliable passage was created for the movement of goods from mining regions to export markets.
He said this will go a long way in sustaining the usability of the country’s roads due to elevated mining activities as the country was trying to increase copper production to over 3 million tons per annum in a decade from less than 900,000 currently.
He further expressed concern that some World Bank-supported projects for which funds have already been committed were moving slowly, hence hoarding resources that could be re-assigned to other needy areas of socio-economic development. Enditem
