Mr Sikapale Henry Chinzewe, Charge d’affaires A.I., High Commission of Zambia

On the priority areas for Zambia…
Zambia has five priority areas. They are tourism, agriculture, manufacturing, infrastructure development and energy. You’ll notice if you look at the visit of the Indian vice president in 2010 is that energy was high on the agenda. We have a hydro power station that has been commissioned. It is a 50-50 joint venture between the Zambian Electricity Supply Company and Tata Africa Holdings. India has provided a USD 50 million line of credit to the Government of Zambia for this power project. If you look at agriculture, there is a USD 40 million far mechanization line of credit.

On value addition of products…
We would rather export cables, and not copper. We would rather export textiles, not cotton. We want to work with Indians in terms of skill transfer and value addition, so that what we are able to send out is more and more in processed form. It is an angle to our bilateral relations, and that’s what we are focused on. Zambia’s quest is for full industrialization, and skills development. In terms of Make in India, we also want to closely take a look at what Zambia can learn from the various initiatives that the Government of India is undertaking. We have a USD 650 million bilateral trade, we would like to see this go up substantially.

On the role of Dr Kenneth Kaunda…
He was a follower of Mahatma Gandhi. His quest for Zambia’s independence was not through the bullet, but through negotiations. That is an aspect of non-violence that he used. If you look at it, there was no Zambia before 1964. So where did we get our non-violence from, India and Mahatma Gandhi.

On tourism…
As I mentioned before, tourism is one of our main priority areas. In India you have a 250 – 300 million middle class, over 1 million HNIs, over 10 million international travelers. The reason I am giving these figures is that Zambian tourism has a huge market in India. We in Zambia “suffer” from being good. We have been independent for 52 years, we have changed Governments through the ballot box, not bullets. But good news does not make much news. Some of our neighbours in Africa are far better know for strifes, unrest and even calamities. But our peace is also our biggest selling point. People who want to explore other countries want to ensure that they are going to a peaceful place. That is why I would like people in India to act when they think of travelling, by taking a long, hard look at how they can really explore Zambia and maximize their Africa experience.