We are diversifying financial engagement – Mukwita

…DBZ CEO confers with his Slovenian counterpart

Ljubljana, 07.11.2018

President Edgar Lungu wants to diversify financial engagement by cooperating with different development banking institutions around the world. Zambia’s Ambassador to Germany, His Excellency Anthony Mukwita made the remarks in the Slovenia capital of Ljubljana. This was at the beginning of a meeting between the Development Bank of Zambia and the Slovenian Export Investment Bank, known locally as SID Banka.

“Zambia may be big in terms of the size of the country and the size of her population but compared to Slovenia we are small because your GDP is around 60 billion which beats us by far”, Ambassador Mukwita said.

The Zambian envoy is in Slovenia leading a six-man delegation that includes the Chief Executive Officer, CEO, of the Development Bank of Zambia Mr. Jacob Lushinga and two other senior officials Malama Mukonde and Alinaswe Siwinga – both from the bank.

In his remarks, Mr. Lushinga told the SID Banka 5-member delegation led by the bank president Mr. Sibil Svilan that the Zambian economy provided a variety of opportunities for investment.

“There are opportunities in tourism, agriculture, energy and mining, for example”, Mr. Lushinga said.

The DBZ chief said his team was exploring areas of cooperation with SID Banka as part of larger efforts to expand development cooperation beyond the current institutions the Zambian bank is dealing with.

“For instance, we have similar cooperative arrangements with China and we hope to do the same with SID Banka so that we may expand our resource mobilization efforts”, Mr. Lushinga said.

The DBZ CEO also wants to forge a technical exchange program that should see Slovenia SID Banka officials visit the Zambian bank and assist in setting up their business models that could enhance the quality of services rendered.

“Or, we could have some of the staff from DBZ come to Slovenia and learn firsthand how SID Banka operates”, SID Banka president Sibil Svilan said in response.

Mr. Svilan told the Zambian delegation that there were possible areas of cooperation in the tourism and energy sectors as the two were growing in Slovenia.

“Beyond that there are Slovenian business houses that are expanding into Africa affording you an opportunity for cooperation”, the SID Banka president said.

Under President Lungu, the Zambian economy has been expanding in various sectors, a development that requires significant amounts of investment funds. DBZ, owned entirely by the Zambian government, plays a major role in the mobilization of funds to realize the development goals of the country. To successfully undertake this role, the Zambian government has mandated the bank to explore other sources of funding.

On its part, the Zambian embassy in Berlin, is playing a part in resource mobilization in the context of President Lungu’s economic diplomacy by organizing meetings between development and investment institutions in Zambia and those located both in the host country and in countries of extra accreditation such as Slovenia.