•PRESIDENT Michael Sata with Jose Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission before the meeting held at Berlaymont Building in Brussels yesterday. Pictures By EDDIE MWANALEZA/STATE HOUSE.

From ANTHONY MULOWA
in Brussels, BELGIUM-
PRESIDENT Michael Sata yesterday held a closed door meeting with European Commission President, Jose Manuel Barroso at Berlaymont building in Brussels to discuss matters relating to negotiations on the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs).
President Sata is in Brussels to take part in the two-day fourth European Union (EU)-Africa Summit which opens today.
The summit has brought together African and EU Heads of States, as well as the leaders of EU and African Union (AU) institutions under the theme “Investing in People, Prosperity and Peace.”
The meeting between Mr Sata and Mr Barroso which lasted for 30 minutes was also attended by Foreign Affairs Minister, Harry Kalaba, Commerce, Trade and Industry Minister, Bob Sichinga and Zambia’s Ambassador to the EU and Belgium, Grace Kabwe .
President Sata would also on the sidelines of the summit today meet Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk at Justus Lipsius Building for bilateral relations talks.
Issues to be tackled at the EU-Africa summit include education and training, women and youth, legal and illegal migrant flows between continents, ways to stimulate growth and create jobs, investing in peace and ways to enhance EU support for African capacities to manage security on the continent.
Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Minister, Harry Kalaba has said Zambia condemns the atrocities prevailing in the Central African Republic (CAR) and that it solidly supports the leadership of Catherine Samba-Panza.
Speaking when he made an intervention during the EU-Africa Ministers of Foreign Affairs meeting at Charlemagne building in Brussels yesterday, Mr Kalaba said challenges still remained in the Great Lakes region which needed to be addressed.
“I would therefore like to add my voice to the condemnation of the atrocities prevailing in CAR, and to express Zambia’s full solidarity to the leadership of Her Excellency, Madam Catherine Samba-Panza, as she takes on arduous task of working towards national reconciliation in order to restore peace and security,” he said.
He said Zambia firmly believed that in the area of dealing with post-conflict situations, deliberate efforts needed to be put in place aimed at ensuring stabilised restoration of security that would support appropriate political processes.