By JAMES KUNDA –
ZAMBIA is among African countries cited for guaranteed economic growth as major global conglomerates look to the continent as the most secure place for their investments.
Zambia’s Deputy Ambassador to Sweden, Anthony Mukwita, said Zambia had the potential to accommodate multiple companies in the greenfield technology sector.
Mr Mukwita was speaking at a discussion ahead of an energy forum which will be held at Waterfront in the Swedish capital, Stockholm.
“Zambia could easily be home to the next Silicon Valley, which is an area in southern San Francisco in the United States and is home to hundreds of start-up and global technology companies.
“Zambia is being looked at because it has uncultivated land among other enormous renewable natural resources,” Mr Mukwita said.
He said in a statement yesterday that President Edgar Lungu’s Government had invested up to US$4 billion in the energy sector to improve electricity supply in the wake of the drought which had reduced the country’s capacity to generate the commodity.
The $4 billion, Mr Mukwita said, was the largest investment in the energy sector over the past 40 years and should be supported by more ideas to further sustain electricity supply.
“Zambia is one of the countries on the continent that have an increasingly younger population of people, a youthful population that shall be looking at innovation and breaking outside the conventional job market,” he said.
Lars Ling, an organiser of the Nordic-Africa energy forum slated for June 30, this year, said Africa was envisaged to have a collective Gross Domestic Product of $2.6 trillion by the year 2020.