RB, LULA CONFERS, 10 DEALS INKED

Lusaka, Zambia -President Rupiah Banda and his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, today held bilateral talks at State House and agreed to enhance their economic, political and social cooperation for the benefit of their countries’ citizens. To realise positive results from this kind of cooperation, the two countries signed two Memoranda of Understanding and eight agreements in various fields all aimed at enhancing development.
  Speaking before going into closed door bilateral talks at State House on Friday, President Banda said Zambia was inspired by the developments Brazil had made in many areas of economic and social development.
  He acknowledged that Brazil would now stand tall among the emerging market economies in the Latin America and the world over.
  “Your country is no doubt one of the leading economies of the world today. It is therefore, our sincere desire to forge mutually-beneficial cooperation with you,” he said.
  President Banda said time has now come for the two countries to increase their cooperation which were strengthened 30 years ago when they signed the treaty on friendship, commerce and cooperation and basic cooperation a year later.
  Mr. Banda, who was flanked by Vice President, George Kunda and several ministers, noted that the agreements and Memoranda of understanding between the two countries will promote closer cooperation in diplomacy, health, education, energy, water development and many other sectors.
  “This is a significant development in our bilateral relations which open a new chapter for closer cooperation in areas of mutual interest. We believe that we have a lot to learn from the rich expertise and know-how of Brazil in various economic sectors,” he said.
  The President further pointed out that the new agreements will greatly improve the volume of trade between the two countries, which he said was quite low at present.
  He told Mr. Da Silva and his delegation that Zambia ’s investment environment was very attractive and viable in sectors such as agriculture, mining, energy, tourism and infrastructure development among many other areas.
  “The presence of several foreign businesses in Zambia bears testimony to the favourable investment climate and opportunities the country has to offer, which is a direct result of the conducive private sector policies that have been put in place by government,” he stressed.
  And President Banda said despite the recent global economic crisis that affected all countries in the world and resulted into a worst global recession ever experienced, Zambia managed to weather its effects and managed to record over six percent economic growth and reduced inflation to a single digit.

“We hope to consolidate these achievements this year,” he said.

He added that one of the lessons that should be learnt from the crisis was that one should never ignore economic contributions of developing countries in the governance of the global financial system.

“The issue of democratisation and reform of the international financial system has been laid bare and, as such, needs to be confronted and settled,” he said.

President Banda paid tribute to Brazil, which is a member of the G-20, for continuing to champion the cause of the developing countries at international gatherings.

“In this regard, we look forward to the implementation of the resolutions of the G-20 summit, especially that they address some of the unfulfilled commitments of the G-8 that impact on the lives of the vulnerable communities in our countries,” he said.

And Brazilian President, Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva, said there was need for Zambia and his country to diversify their economic and political relations and find a common interest that would help the two countries fight hunger and other challenges of poverty.

Mr. Da Silva noted that the two countries have already shown capability of developing further and move out of the doldrums of poverty by managing to survive and record economic development during the global economic crisis.

He said the two countries should find ways of challenging subsidies of rich countries, adding that developing countries should solve their own problems.

He noted that Zambia and Brazil have common developmental programmes such as working towards eradicating hunger and to have successful social policies.

President Da Silva said the 10 agreements which the two countries have signed were extremely important because they would enable the two countries move towards economic development together.

He said his country has been recording economic development since he assumed power eight years ago.

He said Brazil when he took over presidency, owed the International Monetary Fund (IMF) US$30 billion but managed to pay back in full before schedule and was now a creditor.

Mr. Da Silva further said Brazil also managed to overcome the effects of the global economic crisis because of its sound fiscal and financial management policies.

He said it was unfortunate that the IMF and the World Bank, which were in the forefront educating developing countries on what to do about the global economic crisis, have remained mute on economic problems currently facing developed countries.

After closed door bilateral talks, the two countries signed two MoUs and eight agreements aimed at enhancing bilateral cooperation in ten areas.

The MoUs that have been signed are on Food and Nutrition Security and Humanitarian assistance and on technical cooperation in the field of sports.

The eight agreements include performance of remunerated activities by dependants of diplomatic, consular, administrative, military and technical staff, and agreements on cooperation in the field of education, cooperation on vocational training and an agreement on training and capacity building for health professionals of the University Teaching Hospital (UTH).

Other agreements are the implementation of project focusing on strengthening the National Strategic Plan for HIV/AIDS, cooperation on culture, on VISA exemption for holders of diplomatic, official and service passports of the two countries and the agreement on production of bio fuels.

The agreements and MoUs were signed by Zambia's and Brazil's Ministers of Foreign Affairs respectively.

Mr. Kabinga Pande signed on behalf of Zambia while Ambassador Celso Amorim signed for Brazil .

The Brazilian President arrived in Zambia on Wednesday for a two- day State visit left on Thursday for South Africa .

ZANIS