Maravi

It's time GDP reflected on people's lives - Levy

It's time GDP reflected on people's lives - Levy
By Brighton Phiri
Tuesday October 23, 2007 [04:00]

IT is high time Gross Domestic Product (GDP) figures reflected in the lives of ordinary people, President Levy Mwanawasa said yesterday. And new French Ambassador to Zambia Francoise Le Bihan said her government stands ready to support any effort towards resolving the problems in Zimbabwe.

Speaking at State House when new Japanese Ambassador to Zambia Hideto Mitamura presented his credentials, President Mwanawasa said it was important that the ordinary people begun to benefit from the positive growth of the country's economy.

"Now that we have stabilised our economy, we want to ensure that whatever we have achieved goes down to our people. We are saying it is high time we saw the GDP figures move away from paper and begin to reflect in the lives of our people," President Mwanawasa said.

President Mwanawasa said Zambia's economy was showing positive growth of 5.8 per cent and expressed his hope that the growth would be accelerated and sustained through economic and technical co-operation initiatives such as the Triangle of Hope, an initiative of the Japanese government to facilitate investment promotion in the high-tech industry.

He said Zambia was ready to host the regional preparatory conference for the forthcoming Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) to be held in May 2008. President Mwanawasa said the preparatory meeting was scheduled for Lusaka before the end of October.

Ambassador Mitamura said his government valued Zambia's effort towards improving the micro economic sector. He said Japan looked forward to working with Zambia on the United Nations (UN) reforms.

Earlier, Ambassador Bihan said her government stood ready to support Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) efforts towards finding a lasting solution to Zimbabwe's crisis.

"France will stand by your efforts as SADC chairman to resolving the problems in Zimbabwe," she said.

She reaffirmed the French government's continued support in the health, education, energy, tourism, telecommunication, among other sectors. President Mwanawasa called upon the French and other European governments to boost the efforts of African countries in their quest for economic growth.

"Africa cannot and must not be left out of globalisation. Its destiny is intertwined with that of the rest of humanity. As such, the developed world should do their utmost to support Africa in its search for sustainable development," President Mwanawasa said.

Finnish Ambassador to Zambia Sinikka Antila said Zambia was one of the eight long-term partner countries for her government's development co-operation.

"I would like to see more trade and economic co-operation between our two countries," she said.

President Mwanawasa said Zambia valued the Finnish government's support towards attaining the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

"As a country, Zambia is still striving to meet the MDGs and with the assistance of friendly governments such as Finland, we are certain of attaining these important goals," he said.

New Egyptian Ambassador to Zambia Sherif Mohamed Kamal El Din Shaheen said he had come to Zambia to strengthen the already existing strong ties between the two countries. He said Egypt was ready to offer its experience to assist Zambia's economic development efforts. President Mwanawasa said the bilateral projects between the two countries were bearing fruit.

"For example, the first harvest from the Mwembeshi farm was good and it gives us impetus to increase production, as well as inspiration to explore further other areas of mutual interest," he said.

Labels: MWANAWASA, NEOLIBERALISM, POVERTY

posted by MrK @ 4:19 AM