Zambia Elected to UN Body

ZAMBIA has been elected as Rappoetuer for the Bureau of the Committee on Private Sector Development, Regional lntegration, Trade, Infrastructure, Industry and Technology under the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The newly elected member states to the Bureau include Djibouti, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, Libya and Zambia.

The Bureau will be chaired by Djibouti and Rapporteured by Zambia for the next two years.

Zambia’s Ambassador to Ethiopia who is also Permanent Representative to the African Union and ECA, Emmanuel Mwamba, confirmed the development in a statement.

The elections were conducted during the First Session of the Committee on Private Sector Development, Regional lntegration, Trade, Infrastructure, lndustry and Technology held under the theme _”Private sector development and the digital economy in support of regional integration in Africa”from 11th – 12th December 2019.

The Committee comprises 54 member states of the African Union and holds performance review meetings and conducts elections to select countries that oversee implementation of the work programme every after two years.

Mr. Mwamba welcomed the development and said Zambia would perform the special role of Rapporteur to the Bureau and also safeguard interests of the entire Southern African region.

During the two day sessions both policy makers and private sector players from the African continent have dedicated to discussing various topics aimed at accelerating efforts of establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area and deepening regional integration towards” the Africa We Want 2063″.

He said Africa was on the right path in terms of economic integration and called for the implementation of a broad based and coordinated energy and infrastructure development strategy in order to reduce intra-Africa trade costs that have continued to negate the intensity of trade among African countries.