• IT’S A DONE DEAL: ZICTA director general Margarate Mudenda (left) shakes hands with her ZDA counterpart Patrick Chisanga after signing an MoU in Lusaka yesterday. Picture by KENNEDY MUPESENI

By MAIMBOLWA MULIKELELA –

THE Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) and the Zambia Information and Communication Technology (ZICTA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to attract increased investment in Information Communication Technology (ICT).
The MoU would be operational for three years covering mutual assistance and exchange of information between the two agencies to aid performance of their respective functions effectively as well as increase promotion and facilitate investment.
This would be done according to the laws, regulations and mandate of the two agencies with the focus of attracting and developing investment in the ICT, postal and courier sectors.
Signing the MoU in Lusaka on Wednesday, ZDA director general Patrick Chisanga said his mandate was to promote local and foreign investments across all sectors.
Mr Chisanga said the ICT sector had not been sufficiently explored particularly among Zambian entrepreneurs encompassing the Micro, Small and Medium Entrepreneurs (MSMEs).
“The MoU targets to increase investment through research and policy analysis on issues relating to investment and exchange of information.
We hope that by signing this agreement we can sensitise the Zambian entrepreneurs for entry into this sector and we as ZDA we will play the role of promotion, facilitation and capacity building among Zambians to do that,” he said.
ZICTA on the other hand would provide the technical backup, education and linkages to guarantee the targeted goals were achieved.
He said the MoU was an effort by the ZDA to stimulate the interest of Zambian entrepreneurs in the ICT sector, which was fast growing worldwide but had been slow in the country.
Other areas of collaboration were licensing in the ICT, postal and courier services, provision of support to MSMEs, identification of potential innovators and information dissemination relating to ICT, postal and courier services.
ZDA director general Margaret Mudenda said the MoU provided the establishment of a comprehensive framework for cooperation and exchange of information with ZICTA.
“The need to expand on the growth of ICT in our economy cannot be overemphasised. The sector plays an important role in improving efficiency and innovation in the production of goods and services across all sections of the economy,” Ms Mudenda said.
She said there were additional untapped investment opportunities within the telecommunications, internet service providers value added services, postal and courier service subsectors.
“These opportunities if properly packaged and shared with prospective investors could have a huge impact on economic growth and job creation in Zambia. This provides a firm rationale for the establishment of the MoU between ZICTA and ZDA,” she said.
It was envisaged the cooperation between ZICTA and ZDA would facilitate the growth of investment in ICT which would in turn translate into social and economic gains for Zambia.