Zambia Firms Ink Large Export Deals with DRC

English News, October 26, 2022

LUSAKA, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- Zambian firms clinched export deals amounting to 24.50 million U.S. dollars through the just-ended trade mission to Lubumbashi town in the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the country's investment agency said Tuesday.

The Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) said out of the total export deals, 10.82 million dollars were confirmed orders while 13.7 million dollars were export leads with some other companies still in discussion with their potential clients on possible export deals.

In a press release, the agency said the confirmed orders and deals are for the supply of mealie meal, day-old chicks, chicken sausage, fish, pork and maize seed, among others.

Albert Halwampa, the agency's acting director-general, said the results of the trade mission validated the agency's strategy and position that the DRC was Zambia's leading market for non-traditional exports.

"These results are further testimony that both large companies and small and medium enterprises can both earn foreign exchange and thereby significantly create jobs and wealth for the Zambian citizens," he said.

According to him, the agency's strategy was to facilitate market access for as many companies as possible to export products and expand the export base to the DRC in line with the government's aspiration of increasing trade and investment.