Maravi

Envoy hails Venezuela, Zambia ties

Envoy hails Venezuela, Zambia ties
By Kondwani Munyeka and Bright Mukwasa
Thu 07 June 2012, 13:23 CAT

VENEZUELA has praised Zambia's continued good political will toward Latin American countries. And PF secretary general Wynter Kabimba says his party had interest in establishing bilateral relations with Latin American governments.

Visiting Venezuelan chief of the diplomatic mission based in Angola, who is also accredited to Zambia, Sao Tome and Principe, Jesus Alberto Garcia said in an interview that Zambia had been been in the forefront of working with Venezuela by strengthening the political relations between the two countries and countries around South America.

"To this effect, Zambia is one of the few African countries that have participated in various conferences aimed at strengthening relationships between all countries in South America and African countries," Alberto Garcia said.

Venezuela has finally implemented the earlier signed agreement in 2009 between the two countries of cordial relationship by giving scholarships to Zambians in different fields.

"The agreement for the start will cover about 20 students expected to be in Venezuela by February next year to be trained in medicine, agriculture and mining which are major fields towards the improvement and development of the Zambian economy," he said.

Alberto Garcia said Venezuela had regard for Zambia's democratic scores.

"Zambia has contributed positively to the people of Venezuela by helping us reach the high level of political stance that we have achieved in the past years, enjoying the fruits of democracy," he said.

Venezuela is expected to hold presidential elections on October 7, 2012.

"This has been observed by (President Hugo) Chavez's implementation of serving 80 per cent oil reach production profit to the Venezuelan community unlike other countries whose interest is their pockets," he said.

Alberto Garcia also commended The Post for its contribution to Zambia's development and the efforts it has been making in informing the African community on the fresh happenings in Latin America.

He praised Zambia's role in peace building within the region.

"It was one of the countries that were in the fore front in seeing Angola being liberated and therefore such is a welcome move and this can also be observed by the peace that Zambia to date enjoys. Venezuela has never lived through wars and crimes like those of Africa, but the struggle in Africa has been a lesson we have learnt," said Alberto Garcia.

And Kabimba, who hosted a luncheon for Alberto Garcia, said his party was looking for genuine friends from the south to push a common agenda that favoured people's development.

Kabimba said the PF wanted to learn from other countries like Venezuela on how it managed to attain 100 per cent literacy in two years and also how it managed to tackle poverty, disease and unemployment.

Labels: VENEZUELA, WYNTER KABIMBA

posted by MrK @ 3:18 PM