His Excellency Mr. Edgar Chagwa Lungu, President of the Republic of Zambia visited India on a State Visit at the invitation of Hon’ble President Shri Ram Nath Kovind from 20-22 August 2019. President Edgar Lungu would be accompanied by a high-level delegation including Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Joseph Malanji; Minister for Commerce, Trade and Industry, Mr. Christopher Yaluma; Minister for Mines and Mineral Development Mr. Richard Musukwa; Presidential Affairs Minister, Mr. Freedom Sikazwe and senior Government officials. The bilateral talks are expected to review issues of bilateral, regional and international interest. The discussion is likely to focus on cooperation in defence, security, geology and mineral resources, energy, health, education, infrastructure, culture, trade and investment related issues. Capacity building continues to be an important aspect of our engagement with Zambia.
Our bilateral trade has grown steadily. In 2018-19 our bilateral trade was close to US$ 830 million. India primarily imports copper from Zambia. Zambia is the second largest producer of copper in Africa. Zambia is also beneficiary of India’s Duty Free Tariff Preference (DFTP) scheme. With investments of over US$ 5 billion, mostly in the mining sector, India is one of the largest investor in Zambia. This is the first visit at the level of Head of State from Africa after formation of the new Government and the first-ever visit of President Lungu to India. The visit is significant in the context of our Africa outreach policy.