President Hakainde Hichilema has emphasised the importance of the Lobito Corridor, as one of the responses to accelerating the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

President Hichilema says the Lobito Corridor should be seen as a building block for connecting Africa, calling on Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia, to work together, in collaboration with cooperating partners, to ensure the successful implementation of the Corridor.

Speaking when he officially opened the Second Lobito Corridor Coordination meeting in Lusaka, President Hichilema said that the corridor will in turn drive the desire to accelerate economic growth and benefits that come with such developments, including creation of jobs for the young people.

The President observed that Africa is vulnerable because of fragmentations and that the Lobito Corridor remains integral to the realisation of AfCFTA.

And President Hichilema noted that the ecosystem and peace, security, and stability of countries are largely anchored on actions, opportunities created for the young people across the three countries and beyond.

“There is a youthful population on our continent, we must provide opportunities for that youthful population, starting with education, skills, and also opportunities, formal jobs, informal jobs, self-employment, extremely important,” he stated.

Meanwhile, President Hichilema wants to see deliberate joint ventures amongst investors, businesses, partners from Congo, Angola, Zambia, the SADC region and Europe.

The Head of State underscored the importance of individual countries and responsibility to support their populations.

“When the region is connected, who picks a weapon against another? Because you don’t want to destroy your own business, whose operations are in Angola, in Congo, DRC, in Zambia, eventually Tanzania and elsewhere,” he said.

President Hichilema suggested that the engine room meeting pays particular attention to ensure that smooth flow of business activities is enhanced in the three countries and the SADC region at large.

He added that initiatives like the Lobito corridor also support the Grow Zambia Agenda in various sectors including tourism, mining, energy, trade and investment.

Representing the President of Angola, Joao Manuel Lourenco, Angola’s Minister of Transport Ricardo D’Abreu stated that the Lobito Corridor is a national priority for his country.

 Dr D’Abreu explained that, it is in Angolan territory that Port of Lobito and 1300 kilometers of the Benguela Railway are located, the most direct link between the mining heartland of Africa and the Atlantic.

He said that the corridor serves more than eight million Angolans in transporting both minerals and other products.

“The guidance of President Lourenço is clear, to transform a transport corridor into an effective economic development corridor. Copper and other minerals are already being transported to Lobito, while sulphur and food products are reabsorbed inland, together with domestic Angolan Cargo using the same railways,” he noted.

Dr D’Abreu stressed the need to deal with border challenges, noting that the greatest immediate gains on the railway can be reflected with the time it spends on the border.

“To keep the Atlantic platform viable and open to cargo and minerals, Angola will work with both Zambia and DRC to transform the Angola Luau border crossing so that it operates as a one stop border in order to make our single window for foreign trade interoperable,” he said.

Leading the delegation from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Minister of Planning and Coordination of Development Aid Guylain Mbwizya stated that, the rehabilitation and modernisation of the railway network must form part of a coherent logistics chain, supported by connecting roads, efficient logistics platforms, and appropriate energy and digital infrastructure.

Dr Mbwizya charged that the vision requires a multisectoral approach linking railway and road infrastructure, logistics, energy, digital infrastructure, trade facilitation, vocational training and the development of the territories along the corridor.

He made emphasis on ensuring consistency between corridor investments and national development priorities, within the framework of balanced spatial development.

“The ambition is to move beyond corridors that are simply transit and resource-evacuation routes towards an integrated economic corridor capable of stimulating productive investment, supporting industrialisation, unlocking agricultural potential, developing small and medium-sized enterprises and creating sustainable jobs for our populations.

He added that the real impact will ultimately be measured by their capacity to open up previously isolated territories, strengthen regional trade, promote the local processing of resources and concretely improve the living conditions of the people.

And he reaffirmed DRC’s commitment to strengthening cooperation with Angola and Zambia, as well as with all partners, in order to accelerate the implementation of the initiative.

He said that the Democratic Republic of Congo attaches particular importance to the preparation of bankable projects, the mobilisation of financing, and the establishment of governance and monitoring mechanisms capable of translating our shared vision into concrete results.

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