Q FM Africa's Modern Radio
Republican President Edgar Lungu says landlocked developing countries (LLDCs) should double their efforts towards improving their trade competitiveness for them to fully integrate into global trade circles.
Speaking when he officially a high level follow-up meeting to the second United Nations Conference for Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs) in Livingstone today,President Lungu says it is regrettable that the Group of Landlocked countries, for a larger part,remain excluded from both regional and global trade.
President Lungu points out that the share of global trade for LLDCs at the end of 2013 stood at a paltry 1.2 percent, adding that the group has a further challenge of diminished industrial production and value addition.
He says competitive trade demands that adding more value to commodities and that it is for this reason that Zambia, as a country and collectively through SADC has embarked on an industrialization strategy to ensure adequate value addition to create quality jobs.
He states that while LLDCs can never change their geographical position of being landlocked, their unwavering tenacity to confront the inherent challenges they face will propel them into a trajectory of accelerated sustainable development necessary for the transformation of the lives of their people.
President Lungu says it is for this reason that the Vienna programme of action for landlocked developing countries was formulated and endorsed as a blueprint for achieving the collective endeavor of enhancing and achieving sustainable development for the countries.
He notes that while it is every country’s primary responsibility to determine its development agenda, the realization of the benefits from the Vienna programme of action will depend on how promptly respective governments respond to and mainstream the programme into national and sectoral development plans.