Maravi

(DAILY MAIL) ‘We need sound investor policy’

‘We need sound investor policy’
By NDUBI MVULA

PRESIDENT Banda says Zambia needs an attractive investment policy to entice and retain foreign investors. President Banda said because of an increasingly competitive investment environment in the world, Zambia needs an attractive investment policy. Mr Banda was speaking yesterday in Livingstone at the 6th ZIBAC conference under the theme, “The Global Economic Crisis: Zambia’s Response to growth and Competitiveness”.

He said the ZIBAC theme is a clear challenge that there is need to respond to the global financial crisis so that the country does not just mitigate the effects of the crisis but position itself to move forward as the economic crisis begins to clear and normalcy returns to the global economy.

Mr Banda said new approaches to partnerships, joint ventures and business strategies should be considered to increase the size and scale of investment, which includes the public private partnership (PPP).

He assured the private sector and the cooperating partners that his administration would continue to attach strong political will and commitment to private sector development.

“In this regard, we will continue to appreciate all the support we have received from our cooperating partners to implement the next phase of the private sector development programme.

“One big lesson is the need to move faster in implementing programmes and the reforms we have agreed upon. We need to monitor effectively the implementation of reforms and programmes,” Mr Banda said.

The President said he is aware that the private sector is concerned about the approval of the recommendations on the business licensing reforms of which he assured that Government has worked tirelessly to ensure the report was finalised and all the consultative meetings held.

“The report will soon be presented to cabinet for consideration. Government has to further accelerate the implementation of reform policies and programmes. Through this forum, I want to get an appreciation of how we can move quicker in implementing the resolutions that have been agreed upon,” he said.

Mr Banda said Government has put in place a framework for monitoring the implementation of all agreed policies, programmes and projects on a monthly basis.
He said this will ensure that any bottlenecks in the exercise will be identified and addressed on a timely basis.

“Zambia has to compete in the global economy. This means that our industries must produce goods and services that can compete within Zambia and with the rest of the world. To do this we need to create a conducive business environment and a favourable investment climate,” the President said.

He said the response to the global economic crisis should be to ensure that there is adequate safety net to protect the vulnerable in the society to moderate the suffering of the people who lose jobs, like the case in the mining sector.

“We should ensure that we maintain food security through promotion and prioritising measures to support the continued growth of the agricultural sector. Infrastructure should equally be kept in focus to allow the country place itself on a stronger footing once the recovery begins to take shape,” Mr Banda said.

He said Government is experiencing a reduction in its domestic revenue collections and that this is not only a wake-up call to implement resolutions made at many forums such as the ZIBAC, indaba, the North-South Corridor but also a call to diversify the economy away from copper production.

“This is not time for business as usual,” President said.

Meanwhile Zambia International Business Advisory Council (ZIBAC) chairperson, Lord Simon Cairns, said he was little aggressive when two years ago he took a swipe at the slow implementation process of the resolutions of previous gatherings.

Lord Cairns said he is now impressed that the atmosphere in Zambia is rather different as regards the implementation of resolutions of ZIBAC meetings.
He said there is now increased political will to work with the private sector in the implementation of resolutions.

“Quiet clearly, the political will is there to work with the private sector. When you allow the private sector to do what it has to do, it creates sense in the economy. I have a great sense that there is much more for Zambia to do in the region,” Lord Cairns said.

He said the global crisis is largely in all the G8 countries while China and India’s economies will continue to grow throughout the next few years.

Lord Cairns said Government has to be a provider of social goods that allows civil society to be looked after as well as allow the private sector do what they are supposed to do.

He believes that there is more convergence now by all players than before, adding that there is great understanding on diversification.

“Zambia is a great country and can do more and has a number of great advantages. Everyone is talking about the right things and the questions is just getting them to happen,” he said.

And Dutch ambassador to Zambia Harry Molenaar said donors’ primary purpose is to assist the Zambian government to reduce poverty.

He said this can happen when there is more productivity and competitive businesses.

Mr Molenaar, however, said this requires a sound policy environment for the private sector to operate.

Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry Felix Mutati said there has been some progress made since the last meeting in 2007.

“The output of this process will be implementation, implementation, implementation. Two key issues are what must we do to move the process of reducing the cost of doing business in particular here in Livingstone the tourist city,” he said.

Mr Mutati said Government intends to convert all licensing under one umbrella known as the one-stop-shop.

He said the other issue is that of bringing down the fee for the international getaway before the end of August this year.

Labels: NEOLIBERALISM, RUPIAH BANDA

posted by MrK @ 4:42 PM