Zambia is "in a hurry" to find investors for the mining sector, and wants to cooperate with Russia, seeing its great potential in the field, Zambian Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Malanji told Sputnik on Wednesday.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th February, 2019) Zambia is "in a hurry" to find investors for the mining sector, and wants to cooperate with Russia, seeing its great potential in the field, Zambian Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Malanji told Sputnik on Wednesday.
"Zambia is endowed with quite a large variety of minerals, so exploration is cardinal. We are looking at investors that are going to come into that sector. At any given time, we would want to engage them and we have seen potential by Russia in that area ... We are desperate, we are in a hurry to develop ... So we have seen the potential in mining by Russia and hence this engagement, to have formal agreements done in the sector," Malanji said.
When asked if there were any specific agreements on mining that could be signed by the two countries, the minister responded positively.
"Yes, of course previously there have been those engagements," Malanji said.
The minister noted that the government was "just a torch-bearer" in this area.
"It's government-to-government and there will be private sector engagement ... As I've indicated there have been quite frequent interaction between the Zambian government and the Russian government, to explore avenues through which we can have mutual benefit through our bilateral cooperation ... So the quicker we engage the corporate world from the Russian side, and of course the Zambian side, the better for both countries," Malanji said.
