By Anthony Mukwita –

This week, His Excellency Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé of Togo joined the bulging list of international leaders queuing up to visit President Edgar Lungu as Zambia continues to fly high its economic diplomacy flag.
When Foreign Affairs Minister Harry Kalaba announced the Togolese President’s visit to Zambia, the dust had barely settled positively, on a March State Visit by the President of Ethiopia Hailemariam Desarlegn.
President Desarlegn became the first post-independent Zambia, leader of Ethiopian to visit the southern Africa nation in 51 years since Haile Selassie.
President GnassingbésState Visit,like the Ethiopian leaders visit contributesfavourably to the fast growing reputation of Zambia, as a safe destination for business and politics.
If you ask pundits for an intellectual discourse regarding the ‘glut’ of political royalty gracing Zambia and President Lungu, they will give you some of the following reasons diplomatically:
Heads of states and government do not ordinarily spend days or nights in a country that is not safe
Heads of states and governments do not ordinarily spend days and nights in country’s that have been given a bad human rights record label by the international community
Heads of states and governments do not ordinarily like to be associated with leaders that have never received a broader and wider expectancy, legally or democratically in their own country
In other words, Presidents take themselves, their personal reputations, and that of their sovereign governments seriously, they want those— images—untarnished.
It is for this reason that pundits maintain that the regular visits on a positive upward note is not only beneficial economically in the short term but also has huge long term economic positive effect.
This is because when heads of states visit, their entourage, eat, buy memorabilia, and generally take a piece of the host countyback with them to share with family and friends.
President Gnassingbé for instance would have chosen any other country out of a list of more than 50 continentally but he chose Zambia, the ‘new kid on the block’ whose diplomacy flag is flying higher under the current administration according to records.
President Gnassingbe’ also belongs to a list of West African leaders that have in the past concentrated more on ECOWASand Francophone linkages than looking south towards countries like Zambia.
Could President Lungu be a factor in this pundits ask?
Regional trade agreements are always signed when two leaders meet at this level, we expect that to enhance further coordination regarding the ‘diversification dreams’ of both countries that are largely dependent, 80 percent on the extractive industry.
President Gnassingbé also brings a new flavour to the crop of leaders visiting President Lungu, showing that the Zambian leader attracts both the proverbial old and new school of leader’s diplomacy grows.
Like the newly elected President of France Emmanuel Macron, the Togolese President was only 39 when he first became President in February 2005 following his father President Eyadama’s death.
To his credit, official records state that the Togolese President now a spry 51 has a rich educational background starting from high school and university at Sorbonne in Paris, France to graduating well from George Washington University in the US with an MBA.
He defies the notorious stereotypical reputation of children of some African heads of states in the past because of pushing the academic envelope as far as possible.
Like the youthful Macron again, the Togolese President first became an influential Minister of Mines aged 35.
President Gnassingbe has had his head buried in politics and keeping a country of almost eight million people politically stable since his first election 12 years ago.
He has been re-elected under his country’s stable and tried democracy three times in the last 12 years.
His visit choice of Zambia coming on the heels of just another President arguably is a re-affirmation of the confidence the international community continue to have in Zambia under President Lungu re-elected twice in 20 months successfully.
President Lungu who has interacted with heavy-weights such as President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, King Mswati of Swaziland, Pope Francis the Vatican, Francois Hollande of France, and China’s President Xi Jinping in the past.
The adage goes, in economic diplomacy, you only get out what you put in.
The ‘wait’ for economic gains maybe slow to come but they eventually do come.
The author Anthony Mukwita (Mr) is the Charge d’ Affaires at the embassy of Zambia in Sweden. He has a special interest in chronicling diplomatic developments buoyed by his media background as a former Editor in Chief. Mr Mukwita has a Masters Degree in Professional Communications.