Belt and Road Initiative to enhance ties between Zambia, China, pitches Zambian economist

The China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative has the potential to cement relations between China and Zambia. Mathews Muyembe, chairperson of the Economics Association of Zambia for the Copperbelt Province Chapter said that Belt and Road Initiative may result in sustainable economic development for the southern African nation.

Mathews Muyembe said that China is looking at boosting intra-African trade by building roads to foster development. “Chinese are global players. They do not come into the country to dictate, as they are law-abiding citizens. They follow the laws and regulations of the countries they invest into,” he opined.

He said the Belt and Road Initiative will benefit Zambia and other African nations through improvement of infrastructures such as roads and communications. Zambia, according to him, needs more manufacturing plants to enhance development through the export of goods, including intra-African trade and beyond, to build a strong economic foundation.

Zambia as a land-locked country, he added, should enhance its economic activities through various trade corridors whose model was started by the country’s first President Kenneth Kaunda during the Chinese-financed construction of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway in the 1970s, as reported by Xinhua.

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