Times Reporter
10 September 2003
JAPAN has given Zambia three grants totalling $7.3 million with a call for Government to be transparent and accountable in the manner the funds are utilised.
Japanese ambassador to Zambia Hiroyuki Ishi said in Lusaka yesterday that the Zambian Government should utilise the grants in a transparent and efficient manner to enhance mutual cooperation.
About $4.3 million would go towards the Infectious Disease Control project while $2.8 million was for the seventh disbursement of the Japanese debt relief grant.
Mr Ishi was speaking at a signing ceremony of exchange of notes for general and cultural grants aid with Finance minister Ng'andu Magande held at the ministry headquarters.
He said the remaining $170,000 was for the purchase of audio-visual equipment for Livingstone Museum.
"The transparent and accountable utilisation of the grants will also reinforce mutual trust and goodwill between our two countries thereby strengthening even further the friendly relations that exist," he said.
He also dismissed reports that Japan had withdrawn development aid due to a projected budget overrun in the Zambian budget, saying the release of grants showed that this was not so.
Earlier, Mr Magande said Government attached great importance to measures intended to resolve Zambia's debt burden such as the Japanese debt relief grant-aid and debt rescheduling agreement signed yesterday.
He said Zambia stood little chance of developing in the absence of a lasting solution to the debt problem.
The Finance minister appealed to other donors for support for the country to attain a sustainable debt position and be able to channel more resources to poverty reduction programmes.
The grant aid for infectious diseases control would be used for the procurement of tuberculosis drugs, laboratory reagents and urban health centre kits to improve diagnosis and treatment of diseases.
The grant aid was being extended to Zambia in the wake of the HIV/AIDS epidemic which remained a major cause of tuberculosis as an opportunistic infection.
The debt relief grant-aid would be used for the purchase and supply of primary and secondary educational equipment, visual and hearing impairment equipment for the ministry of Education.
The cultural grant-aid would be used for the purchase and supply of audio-visual equipment for the museum to enhance the capacity of collecting, preserving, presenting and disseminating a wide range of material on the country's cultural and natural heritage.
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