Govt. to increase development pace – Chikwanda

Govt. to increase development pace – Chikwanda

Shenzeng , China, April 8, ZANIS…Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda says Government wants to increase the pace at which the Zambian economy is developing in order to improve the welfare of people in the country.

Speaking today when he met the Government leader of Shenzeng in the Chinese Province of Guangdong, Mr Chikwanda said government is not impressed with the rate at which Zambia is developing.

“We want it to develop 10 times at this rate, so we are currently working very hard so that we can develop the way that China is developing,” he said.

He said the country has enormous resources with a good climate and peaceful people who are culturally hospitable, which he described as value addition to economic development.

Mr Chikwanda observed that the most precious resource that a country could have is people saying China managed to develop because the construction works of its massive infrastructure was labour intensive.

He attributed China’s heroic performance in developing to the Cultural Revolution by Chairman Mao, the founding father of that country.

Mr Chikwanda stated that chairman Mao instilled confidence in the people of China saying people cannot make innovations without confidence.

“He made the Chinese people believe in themselves after which they worked together to contribute to the development of China,” he said.

He observed that Zambia has been lagging behind because there have been no innovations and that people have been adopting the western culture.

“People want to dress like those of the western,” he said.

Mr Chikwanda commended China for its support in implementing developmental programmes especially in infrastructure development, which he said is a major factor to development.

He stated that Zambia has nearly the same population as Shenzeng with a vast land of 752, 000 square kilometers though development in Shenzeng has grown at a tremendous speed.

And Mr Xu Qin said Zambia has the potential to grow due to its enormous natural resources of water and minerals.

Mr Qin said China wants to make Shenzeng as an economic model due to developments made through the establishment an economic zone.

Earlier, a high level delegation of Ministers, Permanent Secretaries and other government officials led by Finance Minister Alexander Chikwanda today visited Shenzeng Museum to get a clear understanding of how the established economic zones transformed Shenzeng into one of the richest cities in China.

Shenzeng city leads in high-tech, financial services, foreign trade, shipping and creative cultural industries, which have also been enhanced with the country’s structural reforms and broader opening to the outside world.