•PRESIDENT Edgar Lungu (right) during a meeting with a visiting Chinese business delegation when they paid a courtesy call on him at State House yesterday.- Picture by THOMAS NSAMA/STATE HOUSE

By REBECCA MUSHOTA –
A DELEGATION of Chinese investors visiting Zambia is confident of establishing businesses in various fields in the country to the tune of about US$1 billion.
The business executives belonging to an organisation called Tianjin Federation of Industry and Commerce is due to set up bicycle assembly plants in Lusaka and Chisamba, water pump production companies and bio medic manufacturing firms.
Delegation leader Liu Daogang, who is also secretary general of the federation, said when the delegation called on President Edgar Lungu at State House yesterday.
Mr Liu said that the visit was a follow-up on agreements signed when President Lungu visited China.
He said the trip was meant to strengthen trade relations between Zambia and China.
He said there were 30,000 companies in the federation and that he would ensure that most of those companies visited Zambia to find business prospects.
Mr Liu said the Tianjin Federation of Industry was organising a Zambia-China business forum to take place next year and also urged Government to set up a team that would specifically look into Chinese investors’ prospects.
President Lungu said it was time that Zambia and China made new landmark trade agreements.
He wanted the China-Zambia relations to go to a higher level, saying that when Chinese President Xi Jinping visits Africa, he hoped to discuss a number of issues with him to foster trade relations.
President Lungu assured the Chinese delegation that their businesses were safe in Zambia.
He urged the Chinese to partner with Zambians in various areas of trade.
Commerce Trade and Industry Minister Margaret Mwanakatwe said the Chinese delegation brought business potential worth US$1 billion and that they had agreed to travel to Mansa to set up a car battery plant.
Meanwhile, President Lungu has granted absolute pardon to Copperbelt University (CBU) students that participated in an unlawful protest and lecturers who participated in an illegal work stoppage. The President’s Special Assistant for Press and Public Relations Amos Chanda said yesterday at State House that the Head of Statesaidall students and lecturers had been granted absolute pardon.
He also said that Agriculture Minister Given Lubinda would today present a ministerial statement that would announce the downward movement of prices of essential goods like cooking oil and mealie meal.