By Mubanga Mubanga
Commerce, Trade and Industry minister Chipoka Mulenga says the successful implementation of the The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) will lead to the creation of more decent jobs, improved welfare and better quality of life for all citizenry, and sustainable development.
Speaking on the margins of the meeting, Mulenga said the meeting marked another milestone in the government’s quest to unlock Africa’s trade potential through the AfCFTA.
He said the continent had also embarked on the gradual elimination of tariffs on goods and reduction of barriers to trade.
“To boost intra-African trade, the continent has embarked on the gradual elimination of tariffs on 90 percent of goods, and the reduction of barriers to trade in services aimed at increasing Africa’s income by $450 billion by 2035,” Mulenga said.
He said Zambia was committed to participating in the Guided Trade Initiative (GTI) and the fully flagged Free Trade Area (FTA).
Mulenga also said Zambia was almost concluding the domestication process of the Agreement and would soon express interest to join State Parties piloting the GTI.
He said the relevant instruments for domestication had undergone national consultations and were now before the Ministry of Justice for clearance.
The minister also urged Council Members on the need to adopt progressive provisions on the proposed rules of origin for certain products.
He supported the need to have a more flexible rule on textiles under Chapter 61 to allow for sourcing of limited or unavailable inputs from non-African countries.
The minister however said, he recommended that this exception should be time bound and that efforts should be made towards building this industry so that it was self-sustaining.
AfCFTA Secretariat has convened the Thirteenth (13th) Meeting of the AfCFTA Council of Ministers Responsible for Trade from 30th to 31st January 2024 in Durban, Republic of South Africa.
The Council was preceded by the 16th Meeting of the Committee of Senior Trade Officials held from 26th to 29th January, 2024.
Mulenga is leading the Zambian delegation and those in his delegation include Dr Simon Ng’ona, Director Foreign Trade and officials from the Zambian High Commission in Pretoria.
In picture: Commerce minister Chipoka Mulenga and Emily Mburu-Ndoria – Director Trade In Services, Invest Digital Trade AfCFTA Secretariat
By Daily Revelation Reporter
FDD leader Edith Nawakwi says Zambians did not commission Zambia National Service (ZNS) Commander Lieutenant General Maliti Solochi to be importing biologically dangerous products.
Speaking to Daily Revelation on Solochi’s statement to educate Nawakwi not to politicise food, the opposition leader said Gen Solochi should decide whether to be a general of mealie-meal trading or a commander.
“I summarise and say what does my General want, does he want to be a general trader of mealie-meal or does he want to be my commandant? Given the difference between him and (Agriculture minister) Mutolo Phiri, I suggest that the General resigns because basically Mutolo is saying he doesn’t know anything talk to Solochi and the people who gave him the license. That’s what the minister saying,” she said.
On Maliti’s argument that the mealie meal in question was destined for Congo, Nawakwi said, “but minister Mutolo who is senior than Solochi says he knows nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing about this scam.”
“So when this General is talking about Edith Nawakwi should just keep quiet, I feel sorry for him what comes to my mind is, is he a General or does he want to be a General trader, he must choose one of the two. He can’t be my Commanding officer and also be a trader. So is title General meaning that Solochi is trading as general mealie meal supplier?” she said.
She said the conflicting statements smacks of corruption where the minister said he doesn’t know.
“So who else knows it? It must be Hakainde Hichilema because Solochi in his statement even says President says don’t leave anyone. So Solochi reports to the minister of defence and commander-in-chief of the armed forces. So those are the people who know what the man is doing,” Nawakwi said.
She said the Ministry of Agriculture together with Mount Makuru were just on the receiving end.
“Solochi should resign. He should resign, we commissioned him as an officer to protect and defend our territory and the children and people of Zambia, we didn’t commission him to be importing biologically dangerous products,” Nawakwi said.
She said she has forgiven the Commander and she does not want to be involved in the polemics.
“Just inform him that madam Nawakwi doesn’t want to be involved in the polemics of political naivety and economic ignorance. I don’t want to get involved in that because I do understand the limitations that the General finds himself in, he has not been to school to learn how to load a ship, how you consign that ship in transit to another boarder. All he seems to imagine is that you can go in South Africa, get an import permit written this product is destined for Lusaka, Zambia and according to him, offload it and take to Congo,” she said.
Nawakwi said when Gen Solochi said the mealie meal was safe and one could go to this milling company or that milling company, it was his version.
She insisted that the mealie-meal he was importing was lading in Zambia and there was nothing in the document. “Let him give us a document called ‘the bills of lading’, tell Mutolo, tell Solochi, what he is talking about I don’t want to educate about loading consignments and cargoes is done. Tell him I was minister of Energy, minister of Agriculture, and minister of Finance and I went to school to study the structure of international energy market,” she said.
Nawakwi said there were no politics in what she was talking about, but talking about people who don’t understand what they were doing.
She said when ZNS was created, it was not to trade, it was to help the country in terms of floods, in times of cholera and from time to time, given meale-meal to “deliver in Nabwalya.”
Nawakwi said Lt Gen Solochi was a member of the defence force, a commander, a general and he was supposed to be her protector.
“I actually detest the idea that my protector should be talking back to me. This is junior than the minister. The Ministry of Agriculture has a minister, State House has Koswe and …and it has an occupant called Hakainde Hichilema. I don’t expect the people responsible for peace and security to join the arena having a public interaction with politicians,” Nawakwi said. “It is never done. It is an anathema, its taboo because I am being threatened you see that, these are people responsible for the armory, they are responsible for my peace and security. I am talking about him being recruited to do a wrong so he should keep quiet and let those people who have recruited him answer me.
