(LUSAKATIMES) Vice President Guy Scott expected in Australia tomorrow

Vice President Guy Scott expected in Australia tomorrow
TIME PUBLISHED - Wednesday, October 26, 2011, 1:58 pm

Vice President Guy Scott is tomorrow expected to arrive in Perth, Australia to represent President Michael Sata at the 2011 Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting (CHOGM 2011).

Foreign Affairs Minister, Chishimba Kambwili confirmed to ZANIS in Perth that upon arrival, Dr. Scott will attend a session of the Commonwealth Executives. He said the Vice President will on Friday join 16 heads of government and representatives from 54 Commonwealth member countries in the official opening of the CHOGM 2011.

Mr. Kambwili said Dr. Scott will also attend a multilateral meeting which has been arranged with the European Union (EU). The Vice President will be accompanied to Australia by Minister of Labour, Fackson Shamenda and while Mr. Kambwili and Minister of Commerce, Trade and Industry Bob Sichinga are in the advance party of senior government officials attending pre-CHOGM 2011 meetings.

And Mr. Kambwili has disclosed that Cyprus will in the near future send a team of experts to Zambia to explore the latter’s tourism potential. He said this was discussed during a meeting he held with the Foreign Minister of Cyprus in Perth yesterday.

He said Cyprus has since offered to sponsor Zambian officials that are responsible for the development of the tourism sector through training. He hoped that this bilateral arrangement between Zambia and Cyprus will help market the former’s tourism sector, which he said had not been fully done in the past.

The Queen of England and the Duke of Edinburgh, who have since arrived in Australia, will be among the many dignitaries that will attend CHOGM 2011 at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre. The theme of the CHOGM 2011 is ‘building national resilience, building global resilience’.

And Minister of Foreign Affairs Chishimba Kambwili says Zambia’s membership to the Commonwealth is very beneficial to the country. And the 2011 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM 2011) is scheduled to officially open at Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre on Friday, October 28th and close on the 30th of the same month.

Mr. Kambwili said in Perth today that among the benefits of Zambia’s membership to the Commonwealth is the opening up of the Australian market to African countries to export their products.

During the Commonwealth Business Forum, which preceded the CHOGM 2011, Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard announced the opening up of her country’s market to products from Africa.

Mr. Kambwili said Zambia is already benefitting from the pre-CHOGM Foreign Minister’s meeting, Commonwealth and Small Developing States Foreign Ministers’ meeting and the Commonwealth Business Forum (CBF).

He said Zambia will now take advantage of the opening up of the Australian market to products from Africa.

Mr. Kambwili further said Zambia’s position on issues of climate change has been made clear during the meeting of Commonwealth and Small Developing States yesterday.

He said Zambia’s position, just like other developing countries, is that developed nations should financially assist the poor and developing countries to fight challenges of climate change.

He argued that this is because developing nations were not responsible for the emission of most of the greenhouse gasses to the atmosphere.

The theme of the CHOGM 2011 is ‘building national resilience, building global resilience’.

There are 54 countries in the Commonwealth.

ZANIS