By Staff Reporter
Finance minister Dr. Situmbeko Musokotwane says Zambia should be strategically positioned to meet the demands for the minerals both domestically and internationally.
Speaking during a workshop on the development of a road map for leveraging Zambia’s energy transition minerals endowments for economic transformation, Dr. Musokotwane said the World Bank in collaboration with the ministries of Finance and Mines wished to develop a road map that would guide the country’s agenda on energy transition.
He said there was a global transition to the use of low-carbon emitting energy resources so as to mitigate the effects of climate change.
The minister said while recognizing the devastating effects of climate change such as the el-nino the country was currently facing, Zambia had chosen to utilize the opportunities that this challenge had presented.
He said the government was already making strides to move the transition to a green economy forward.
“For instance our country is endowed with many mineral resources such as Copper, Nickel and Cobalt. It is for this reason that Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo have entered into a memorandum of understanding to develop a cross border integrated value chain for the production of electric vehicle batteries,” he said.
Dr. Musokotwane said this was intended to contribute to the adoption efforts and play a role in the move towards clean energy.
The minister said the workshop had been convened to discuss challenges and pathways for Zambia to leverage its energy transition minerals.
“Therefore, we need to understand and strategically position ourselves to meet the demand for the minerals both domestically and internationally. To this end, the road map will unlock bottlenecks in existing policy that will lead to reforms, identify areas of potential investment and capacity building for all our relevant institutions. Bearing in mind that the world is transitioning at a fast pace and we do not want to be left behind,” said Dr. Musokotwane.
He said the engagement with stakeholders was meant to initiate discussions that would inform the directional the road map with a special focus on addressing demand for energy, development of the transport and logistics especially rail, as well as provision of adequate infrastructure.
The minister further said this was an opportunity to develop the economy, create jobs and improve the livelihoods of the people of Zambia, notwithstanding the importance of ensuring that the environment and promotion of private sector participation were safe guarded.
