26 November 2009
A Malaysian economic adviser has urged Zambians seeking investment partnerships with foreigners to ensure they packaged their business and combined resources forming big sectoral consortiums which would attract foreign investors.
Senior economic adviser to the governments of Zambia and Japan for the Triangle of Hope Economic Initiative, Jegathesan Jagasothy, said in Ndola yesterday that locals seeking investment partnership were failing to attract foreign investors because they were still struggling to make the Zambian sector attractive.
Mr Jagasothy said during a Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) and Private Sector Investment Partnership consultation meeting in Ndola that Zambia offered investments opportunities in the construction, agriculture, health, education and information communication and technology (ICT) sectors which needed to be repackaged to attract partnerships with foreign investors.
"The initiative taken by 50 Ndola based medical doctors to form a medical sector investment consortium seeking partnership with foreign investors should be encouraged," he said.
He said the private sector should provide project profiles while the Government should start working on profiles of various sectors, which were useful to foreign investors.
Mr Jegasothy said most foreign investors had financial resources and equipment but were not ready to invest in any sector of the Zambians economy which they did not fully understand.
He said the private sector led joint venture business partnerships were failing to take off because the local investor was committing little resources compared to their foreign counterparts.
Mr Jegasothy said the Triangle of Hope Economic Initiative, which promotes trade between Zambia, Malaysia, Japan and other eastern Asian countries was determined to put in place all the requisites of economic development needed to transform Zambia into a model global investment destination.
The Zambian Government had been advised to ensure there was political will, civil service efficiency and intervention as well as, private sector dynamism.
"In Africa once there is political will, and civil service efficiency, the private sector will deliver and Africa will be a force to reckon with in economic development," he said.
Provincial Permanent Secretary Villie Lombanya said the Copperbelt was thirsty for local and foreign investment.
Mr Lombanya said the Government was promoting the Triangle of Hope Initiative because it provided readily available business opportunities for both Zambians and foreign investors.
"The total sum of individual Zambian businessmen and women have now realised that they should link up in order to register economic growth," he said.
He said Zambians were eager to learn from Malaysia which was a poor country 30 years ago but managed to use values such as hard work, honesty in the creation of national wealth and development to become one of the fasted growing economies of the world.
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