King urges Eswatini-Zambia to harness AfCFTA for growth

Reading Time: 2 minutes HIS Majesty King Mswati III has called for enhanced regional cooperation between Southern African countries. The king highlighted trade, culture and security as key areas for Eswatini–Zambia cooperation. He called for stronger partnerships between the two countries in support of African integration. His Majesty was speaking when receiving letters of credence from Zambian High Commissioner Derick Livune and South African High Commissioner Mmaikeletsi Dube at Lozitha Royal Palace yesterday.

He expressed appreciation that good relations exist between the countries. He urged Livune to work hard to strengthen the cooperation, friendship and support between the two countries as members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the African Union (AU) and other international organisations. The king also noted that there were a lot of areas of cooperation to be identified. He said he was impressed to learn about the things that Zambia is already involved in, including mining, forestry, manufacturing and other industries.

He also highlighted cultural exchange as very important, sharing of information in the security cluster and more. He emphasised identifying areas that could be developed together by people living in Southern African states, areas where cooperation would be more effective and urged increased trade between the two countries. “When I was in Zambia visiting President Hakainde Hichilema, I attended the trade fair and I was able to see a lot of what Zambians can produce. We can trade these things between our two countries and through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). We established it as the AU, it is meant for all African countries to practice intra-trade effectively.

Give yourself enough time to come and also look for opportunities here in Eswatini. There are a lot of opportunities that Zambia can explore and bring to fruition. We will give you all the necessary support that you need. Whatever support you may require from us, it will be granted,” the king said.

Livune highlighted the economic diversification and bilateral opportunities. He urged Zambia and Eswatini to deepen cooperation in agriculture, energy and trade. He said he hoped that the two countries would find ways to elevate the existing relations to higher levels of bilateral, social, cultural, military and economic cooperation. Together, he said, they should strive to encourage people-to-people interaction through cultural and touristic activities.

In order to foster understanding among the peoples, he said cooperation and joint ventures would be encouraged to create jobs and ultimately yield mutually beneficial outcomes for both nations. He noted that Zambia’s economy was primarily driven by the mining sector, particularly copper.

However, he said their government realised the need to diversify and has placed priority on other sectors of the economy such as agriculture, manufacturing, tourism and infrastructure development. “While Zambia has much to offer, we are equally mindful of the fact that your kingdom has many areas in which it has excelled and we look forward to sharing experiences and exchanging ideas. Having signed the Joint Permanent Commission Agreement on Defence and Security, more efforts must be dedicated to ensuring that different memorandums of understanding (MoUs) are actualised. These are MoUs in agricultural cooperation, trade and investment cooperation, forestry cooperation, cultural exchange cooperation and energy-related projects and activities. It is important to ensure that more areas left out are explored for the betterment of our two countries.

Zambia is looking forward to more cooperation and collaboration in all other different sectors of the economy,” added Livune.