Maravi

Use mineral proceeds to fund manufacturing sector - Pour

Use mineral proceeds to fund manufacturing sector - Pour
By Joan Chirwa
Tuesday August 28, 2007 [11:05]

ZAMBIA should use proceeds from its mineral resources to finance the development of the manufacturing sector, an Iranian businessman Behrooz Hassan Pour has advised. Hassan Pour, who has been exhibiting at the Zambia’s Agricultural and Commercial Show and the trade fair for the past three years, notes that most of the successes in Iran were largely on account of that country’s profits gained from its oil reserves.

The director of Behrooz Limited, headquartered in Iran, says Zambia could use the income from the mines to support the manufacturing sector which was currently in its infancy stage in the country.

“Iran has developed its manufacturing industry because of its huge oil deposits. Most of the profits from oil are used to finance other key sectors of the country’s economy,” Hassan Pour said. “We have different types of factories that produce a wide range of products in Iran. Zambia is just starting in terms of developing its manufacturing sector. But Zambia can learn from what other countries have done by using the existing rich resources to transform the whole economy.”
Hassan Pour said developing the manufacturing sector had put most the developed countries at their current levels.

“We don’t import a lot of things. This is so because we have almost everything. We manufacture a lot of things within our country,” Hassan Pour said. “People in the manufacturing industry need a lot of help and this can only be done if resources are divided proportionately. What I know is that Zambia has a good environment for the manufacturing sector to flourish.”

Behrooz Limited is still marketing its products in Zambia, more than two weeks after the 81st agricultural and commercial which was held during the first week of August in Lusaka under the theme ‘Economic Empowerment.’
Hassan Pour says their exhibition will go on until the end of this month.

The number of international exhibitors at the agricultural show increased this year, with international participants such as those from Iran taking advantage of the occasion to market their products as much as they could.
Hassan Pour, however, says this year’s show was not much of a success compared to last year’s event, considering that the number of people visiting their stand had declined.

“Business this year was not very good compared to last year. If I had to compare this year’s show and the Zambia International Trade Fair which was held in Ndola in July, I think the trade fair was better in terms of business,” Hassan Pour said. “We had more clients at the trade fair than we had at this year’s show. This is against what we expected.”

Hassan Pour says the decision to maintain the Zambian market was as a result of the country’s stable economic and political environment.

“Zambia has a growing economy compared to other African countries,” Hassan Pour said. “I personally think Zambia is a better country to deal with in terms of trade because of its safety, good economic performance and political stability. We have also been exhibiting in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Malawi as well.”
Botswana’s President Festus Mogae, who graced this year’s 81st agricultural and commercial show, said Zambia and Botswana had the biggest challenge of turning their vast natural resources into wealth.

President Mogae said the immediate challenge of the two countries was the fight against poverty and under-development.

And Behrooz Zambia, a subsidiary of Behrooz Limited, has since begun producing melamine plates in Lusaka.

Other merchandise mostly traded by Behrooz includes Persian hand-made and machine-made carpets, leather jackets as well as some industrial machinery.

Iran exports about 32.2 per cent of its industrial products, 18.2 per cent of mineral products, 22.2 per cent of agricultural products, 20.3 per cent of hand made carpets and handicrafts, and seven per cent of other materials.

Most of Iran’s exports are to the Asian countries while 39.4 per cent is exported to Europe, 1.2 per cent to African countries, 2.4 per cent to the United States of America (USA) and 0.2 per cent to the Oceans.

Labels: DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENTS, MINING CONTRACTS

posted by MrK @ 4:33 AM