.OBAMA

By JAMES KUNDA –

UNITED States President Barack Obama has sent a message of congratulations to President Michael Sata on Zambia’s 50th independence celebrations which fall on October 24th.
President Obama said the American people joined Zambians in celebrating the historic milestone.
“As you celebrate the 50th anniversary of Zambia’s independence on October 24, please allow me to offer warmest congratulations from the American people to you and the people of Zambia on this historic milestone,” President Obama said.
“The United States joins you in celebrating your Golden Jubilee as our countries have enjoyed a strong partnership throughout your country’s history.”
Mr Obama said he looked forward seeing Zambia’s democracy and prosperity to continue to grow.
“As we reflect on fifty years of independence, we look forward to seeing democracy and prosperity continue to grow in Zambia and cooperating bilaterally on many important issues,” Mr Obama said in a statement released by the US Embassy in Lusaka.
President Obama’s message is founded on 50 years of mutual US-Zambian respect and exchange of ideas, culture, and values.
“One of our favourite photographs that we have in our Embassy is of US civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr together with Zambian first president Dr Kenneth Kaunda, taken in 1960,” the statement reads further.
It was only four years after the momentous meeting that former US president Lyndon B Johnson penned his congratulatory message to Dr Kaunda on the independence of Zambia.
“Former President Johnson wrote in his 1964 message, ‘Zambia’s independence will permit us to strengthen the ties of friendship and cooperation which have been built up between Zambians and Americans over many years.’  Now in 2014, we have the unique privilege to reiterate that very same message of 50 years ago,” Mr Obama said.
In recent years, former US presidents Bill Clinton and George W Bush have visited health programmes in Zambia, and former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton led an African Growth and Opportunities Act conference in Lusaka.
In this Jubilee year, Zambia has been visited by US Second Lady Dr Jill Biden and celebrity US singer Wintley Phipps, who sang freedom songs during Golden Jubilee concerts in September 2014.
President and Ms Michelle Obama welcomed Vice-President Guy Scott and his wife Charlotte to the US for the African Leaders Summit in Washington in August.
New US Ambassador to Zambia Eric Schultz, who arrived in Lusaka on Sunday, is strongly committed to building on the solid foundation of 50 years of US-Zambia partnership and warm relations.
These include leading US efforts to partner with Zambians to combat HIV/AIDS and other health challenges, to expand bilateral trade and investment and to implement the Millennium Challenge Corporation Compact with Lusaka Water and Sanitation Programme to improve water, sanitation and drainage in Lusaka.
Mr Schultz also intends to engage with Zambians on democracy, good governance and youth leadership issues as well as find new paths for collaboration that will lead into the next 50 years of the two countries’ partnership.
Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has nominated her personal envoy for Africa, Guenter Nooke, to represent Germany at Zambia’s 50th Independence anniversary celebrations this Friday.
Mr Nooke, who is expected to arrive in the country today, will during his stay in Zambia also hold bilateral discussions on German-Zambia relations with officials from the ministries of Foreign Affairs, Agriculture and Livestock and Mines, Energy and Water Development.
This is contained in a statement released in Lusaka yesterday by head of development cooperation at the German Embassy, Frank Hofman.