PRESIDENT Hakainde Hichilema says Zambia wants to deepen further her relationship with countries she has diplomatic ties with.

The President was speaking when he received letters of credence from ambassadors and high commissioners who are accredited to Zambia at State House today.

Those who presented their credentials to President Hichilema include German Ambassador to Zambia, Sonke Siemon, Japanese Ambassador to Zambia, Mikami Akiteru and Ghana’s High Commissioner to Zambia, Elizabeth Nyantakyi.

Others are Namibia’s High Commissioner to Zambia, Goms Menette and Columbia’s Ambassador to Zambia, Maria del Rosaria Mina Rojas (with residence in Pretoria, South Africa).

President Hichilema congratulated the diplomats on their appointment to be the bridge between their respective countries and Zambia.

“All of you have a history with this country.

“We have a special relationship with the Federal Republic of Germany. With Japan, we have a long relationship as well, in many ways, in many facets of life – government to government, business to business and people to people,” the President said.

The President added that there is a long relationship between Ghana and Zambia, dating back to the times of the two countries’ founding presidents, Kwame Nkhrumah and Kenneth Kaunda, respectively.

“They worked hard to bring the Organisation of African Unity OAU), the AU now. So we continue to do that together.

“With Namibia, we are next door neighbours and we are truly one people in this region. There are a couple of common things that we are doing together. We have common assets together,” President Hichilema said.

He further said Columbia’s heritage is very clear and: “we want to make sure that we maintain that heritage.”

“But more than just maintenance of that heritage, we need to deepen it so that we can achieve more together to benefit the people oof Columbia and Zambia,” President Hichilema said.

President Hichilema reiterated that Zambia’s foreign policy is anchored on two legs – peace, security and stability and economic development and trade.

“With some of you we share bilateral relationship based on philanthropy. But we understand that the dynamics have changed; we do believe in global order.

“Dynamics have changed and we need to be inclusive. Yes, aid is important but we want to focus on investing together. Zambia has resources of today and the future; critical minerals like copper, cobalt, manganese, lithium and others,” he said.

The President also said Zambia and Africa now want to work with Germany and Japan in a manner that is anchored more on economic partnerships where there is trade and investment.

“That is the thrust of this government,” he said.

He further thanked Germany and Japan for their support when Zambia was working around the debt restructuring programme.

President Hichilema is keen on seeing more German, and Japanese companies coming to invest in Zambia.

“In my private sector days, we dealt with quite a number of Japanese companies like Mitsui, Toyota, Marubeni, Marunouchi. When we visited Japan, we talked about these issues so that we can deepen our partnership,” he said.

President Hichilema reminded African diplomats that: “we need to invest in more Africa-to-Africa businesses.”

“Africa does the least business with itself. We must see more JVs (joint ventures) together. We must do more together in agriculture,” said President Hichilema, who also advised diplomats to engage the Zambian government through dialogue, and not through the media.