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GOVERNMENT has started implementing Cabinet’s resolution for missions abroad to acquire mortgages for construction and purchase of properties, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Malanji has said.
Mr Malanji says this was aimed at reducing expenditure on rented chanceries and residences for heads of missions and diplomatic staff.
“We will put the Statutory Instrument on mortgage financing to full use and through that, we are assured that the properties will be ours and we will no longer spend money,” Mr Malanji said.
This is according to a statement issued by First Secretary (Press) Jerry Munthali at the Zambian Embassy in Ankara, Turkey.
Mr Malanji said in Ankara that he was delighted by the Turkish government’s willingness to help the Zambian mission acquire properties.
On September 7, 2015, Cabinet accepted the recommendation for missions abroad to acquire mortgages for construction and purchase of chancery and residential properties.
Mr Malanji also commended diplomats at the Zambian mission in Ankara for taking interest to learn, the Turkish language.
He said learning local languages in the host countries was important for diplomats to effectively execute their duties.
Mr Malanji urged the diplomats to work hard and to ensure they remained relevant to Zambia’s development aspirations.
He also said it was unfortunate that diplomats in some missions abroad thought they were indispensable.
“No one is untouchable, the Head of Mission is the flag carrier who carries the mandate from the President and you have to support him,” Mr Malanji said.
And Zambia’s Ambassador Designate to the Republic of Turkey Joseph Chilengi thanked President Lungu and Mr Malanji for accepting an invitation to attend the inauguration ceremony of re-elected Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
He said Zambia and Turkey had a lot to learn from each other because both countries were undergoing constitutional amendments, which came with similar challenges.
President Erdogan won the June 24, 2018 snap Presidential and Parliamentary elections with a 52.6 percent first round majority vote to become Turkey’s first Executive President under that country’s new Constitution.
Under the new executive presidential system, Turkey will have 16 ministries while the Prime Minister’s office will be abolished.
DAILY NATION
