Change of government won’t hurt investment, says Storella

Change of government won’t hurt investment, says Storella
By Ndinawe Simpelwe
Fri 15 July 2011, 14:01 CAT

AMERICAN ambassador to Zambia Mark Storella says change of government will not affect the investment pattern in the country. In an interview Storella said Zambia had the basics for any investor to set up business in the country. Storella said investment in Zambia did not entirely depend on government good policies but the necessary basics that attracted investors.

“Whether there will be change of government or not does not matter. Zambia is able to attract investment not because of the good government policies but because of the basics of investment that the country has,” Storella said.

He said the country's long record of peace and political stability was good enough to attract investors regardless of who was in power.

He said the country would continue to receive a lot of investors as long as it maintained its peaceful nature and political stability.

He said the American Chamber of Commerce in Zambia would ensure that the country receives a lot of investors from America especially after hosting the African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) conference last month.

He said the chamber had observed that Zambia had the potential to grow economically.

“We will support Zambia in any way possible. Even after the elections, regardless of who wins, the American government will continue to support Zambia in different areas of the economy. The economy is doing fine, the inflation rate is reducing and all these indicators are good supporters of investment,” Storella said.

He however said that it was up to Zambians to ensure that they kept the momentum going after the AGOA conference adding that the conference was just a platform to exchange ideas while the real work lied ahead.

“That was just a forum to dialogue and nothing more. There is need to ensure that everything was discussed at the conference is put in practice because a lot ideas were exchanged and we learnt a lot from each other,” he said.

The MMD government has been saying the huge investment that the country has received is due to its good policies.