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The South Africa-Zambia Chamber of Commerce (SAZACC) has urged business players to take advantage of bilateral agreements aimed at fostering economic development in their countries.
SAZACC Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Evance Chanda said Zambia needs to take advantage of its land linked status and start exporting her products to both the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) regions.
Mr. Chanda said it was the collective responsibility of business partners to implement government bilateral agreements in order to get benefits from other countries and improve their export status.
He said this in Lusaka today at a business seminar for bridging the gap on international trade.
The seminar was organised by the Africa Exchange in association with the SAZACC in Johannesburg, the Zambia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ZACCI) and the Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) in Lusaka.
Mr. Chanda stated that there was need for Zambia to emulate South Africa in implementing agreements because that country has effectively branded itself in Zambia.
“Visit Manda Hill, Levy Junction, Arcades and other malls. I don’t have to explain, South Africa is here. The question is, is Zambia ready to move into South Africa, Zimbabwe and Poland? Ask your organisation what is it that we can export to these countries?” he said
Mr. Chanda was however optimistic that Zambian products will one day be found on the shelves of other countries in the region and the outside world.
The South Africa-Zambia Chamber of Commerce (SAZACC), which provides a platform of practical information for exploring investment opportunities between Zambia and South Africa, was officially launched in September last year.
And KPMG Zambia Senior Projects Manager Daniel Rea said his firm was encouraged by the efforts of government in improving the economic scope of the country.
Mr. Rea said there was a lot of unprecedented activity going on in the country that would make Zambia score meaningful modern development.
He cited among other things the $750 million Euro bond, the Link Zambia 8000 road project, and the reconstruction of the Zambia Railways as some of the progressive steps government had undertaken to improve the economic status of the country.
Meanwhile, KPMG Zambia Director Michael Phiri said the country’s economic outlook remains favourable for investors because of its various tax and non-tax incentives.
Mr. Phiri said Zambia has a favourable tax regime for industries with a standard tax rate pegged at 35 per cent adding that firms can even get up to more than 50 per cent tax reductions.
He stated that the Lusaka stock Exchange (LUSE), the manufacturing and agriculture sectors’ offer of tax at 35 percent, 15 per cent and 10 percent respectively make Zambia an attractive environment for investment.
He added that Zambia, being a member of COMESA and SADC, also allows for reduced rates to ensure the actualisation of the free trade area for members.
KPMG is one of the largest professional service companies in the world and one of the Big Four auditors, along with Deloitte, Ernst & Young (EY) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Its global headquarters is located in Amstelveen, Netherlands.
KPMG employs 145,000 people and has three lines of services namely auditing, tax and advisory. Its advisory services are further divided into three service groups which include management consulting, risk consulting and transactions & restructuring.
