Zambia Hosts Saudi Business Delegation for Investment Talks

President Hichilema hosted a Saudi Arabian business delegation at State House yesterday to discuss the middle-eastern country’s potential investment in Zambia. The talks were led by His Excellency Eng. Abdurahman Abdulmohsen A. Alfadley, the Environment, Water, and Agriculture Minister for Saudi Arabia.

President Hichilema said Zambia is ready to deepen their relations into investment and trade with the middle-eastern country. Both parties said they wished to pursue mutually beneficial avenues of investment, with Alfadley saying Saudi Arabia have “big plans” for investment in Zambia. The conversation focused on future joint ventures in technology, mining, and agriculture, with particular emphasis on water harvesting and irrigation to improve Zambia’s agrarian output and food security.

“We strongly believe in the potential your country has,” Alfahdley said, going on to praise Zambia’s abundant natural resources. The Environment Minister also seemed hopeful about the role that Zambia could play on the world stage “sooner rather than later.”

Hichilema also thanked the delegation for their country’s funding of the 800-bed King Salman Bin Abdelaziz Specialist Hospital for Women and Children in Lusaka, where construction began in 2022. Saudi Arabia also invested $2 billion towards solar projects which will supply an additional 2,000 megawatts of electricity to Zambians across the country in the coming years.

Concluding the meeting, President Hichilema urged representatives to consider investing in mining opportunities, particularly in minerals critical to the green energy transition such as copper and nickel.