By Patricia Male
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Permanent Secretary for International Relations, Isabelle Lemba has appealed to the Indian government to take advantage of Zambia’s High grade soya beans for its edible oil production.
Speaking in new Delhi yesterday during the third foreign office consultation, Ambassador Lemba has noted the growing trade imbalance between the two countries with India exporting more than Zambia and asked India to take advantage of the sound bilateral relationship between the two countries to leverage trade especially in the agriculture sector.
Ambassador Lemba says India can now look to Zambia for the importation of agricultural produce such as soya beans and avocado which are of high quality and readily available in Zambia.
She also called for investment in Agro processing in Zambia to add value to the wide range of products produced by farmers to enable the country export finished products as part of the initiative to bridge the trade imbalance between the two countries.
And India’s joint secretary of east and southern Africa Puneet Kundal said his country will explore the prospect of importing soya beans from Zambia as it could be a cheaper source than the current situation where the country is importing pigeon peas from other African countries.
Mr. Kundal said soya beans could be an alternative raw material for the production of edible oils as India is currently importing raw materials from Brazil.
This is contained in a statement issued by first secretary press and tourism at the Zambian High Commission in New Delhi – India, Benny Mundando.
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