President Lungu heads to Japan

President Edgar Lungu will this weekend travel to Japan on a three day Official Working visit.

The visit will run from December 17 to December 20.

During his stay in Japan, President Lungu will make a State Call on His Majesty the Emperor of Japan.

He will also meet and hold talks with Prime Minister of Japan Mr. Shinzo Abe will who will host a dinner in his honor.

In a statement, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the Government of Japan sincerely welcomes President Lungu and hopes that his visit will further strengthen the partnership between Japan and the Republic of Zambia, including collaboration for the success of the TICAD VII, which will be held in August 2019.

This will be President Lung’s first visit to Japan as President and this will be the first meeting between Prime Minister Abe and President Lungu.

The Zambia-Japan relations date far back as October 1964 when Zambia became independent.

There are 269 Japanese nationals residing in Zambia as of December 2017.

Zambia exported 2,680 million Yen worth of goods such as cobalt, tobacco and leather to Japan.

Zambia on the other hand imported 5,220 million Yen worth of goods from Japan in items such as automobile, car parts, general machinery.

Japan’s Economic Cooperation with Zambia as of 2015 was standing at 57,885 million Yen in Loans and 112,154 million Yen in Grants with 60,354 million Yen in Technical cooperation.

Founding President Dr Kenneth Kaunda was the first Head of State to visit Japan in 1990 and late President Frederick Chiluba also visited the country in 2000.

In 2003, late President Levy Mwanawasa attended the (TICAD III) and in 2005, visited the country on a working visit and later followed up the visit with another in 2008 at the (TICAD IV).

Late President Michael Sata visited Japan in 2012 and attended the (TICAD V) in 2013.

Source: Lusaka Times