HH: Zambians Should Embrace The World Bank As A Partner

President Hakainde Hichilema has said Zambians should embrace the World Bank as a partner in the country’s economic development, rather than viewing it as the foreign entity which some sections of society portray it to be.

Speaking at State House yesterday during a visit by the World Bank’s Vice President for Eastern and Southern Africa, Victoria Kwakwa, President Hichilema explained that the bank had been a partner to Zambia for many years and that misconceptions about its role in Zambia needed to be changed.

“We are saying to the people of Zambia that the World Bank is not a foreign entity. The World Bank and the IMF are not foreign entities, these are our entities and I think there’s some abuse on the definition of what the World Bank is,” the President said.

During Dr Kwakwa’s visit, President Hichilema thanked the World Bank for its continued support to Zambia and expressed optimism for a stronger partnership going forwards.

He also thanked Dr Kwakwa for visiting Zambia just a few days after assuming office and said that Zambia could use her experience working to Asian economies to provide knowledge and practices that could benefit the country’s development.

“We want to express our appreciation that we are one of the first stops for you to visit in your new role. Especially that you are coming from working in a region that we admire a lot, who has difficulties but managed to develop their economies in a short period of time and improve the lives of their people.” 

“Looking at the natural resource endowment of this country and their natural resource base. We have better. We do not want to reinvent the wheel but we are looking up to you and your team to work with us and shorten the learning curve to save time and resources,” he added.

Following on from the President’s speech, Dr Kwakwa praised the Zambian government for its program of economic reforms and pledged further support from the World Bank to benefit all Zambians.

“We want to congratulate you and the Ministry of Finance for the reforms that you’re pursuing at a very difficult time for the country and globally and using this as a time to reform shows political will and we want to commit our continued support to ensure that you are successful and create value for the people of Zambia” she said.