Zambian officials say they want to diversify the economy and decrease dependence on extractive industries such as copper, which account for most of the country's exports. Zambia's Commerce Minister Chipoka Mulenga said the U.S. should be a key partner in that effort.
"But our focus right now is to see how best we can create jobs and revive our economic fortunes by value addition," said Mulenga."We want to take advantage of the new energy system that the world is migrating to from fossil fuels into clean and green energy.
Zambia is Africa's second-largest producer of copper - after the Democratic Republic of Congo - and an important source of other critical minerals like manganese, nickel, and cobalt. But economists say Zambia's dependence on minerals means it has not taken advantage of being a member in the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa or the Southern African Development Community .
"This is one of the challenges that Zambia has not really harnessed despite being in regional bodies such as COMESA and SADC," said Boyd Muleya of the think tank Zambia Trade and Policy Dialogue."But going forward the engagement with the U.S. is very critical. We need to change the narrative because what we have seen in the past is mostly, we focus on aid that comes from the U.S., approximately about $500 million United States dollars annually.
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