Ambassador Speeches

Remarks by Ambassador Martinez at the Business and Economic Media Workshop Closing Ceremony

Lusaka
April 7, 2006

His Excellency, The High Commissioner for Canada, Mr. John Deyell;
The Manager of the Association of Chartered and Certified Accountants, Ms. Daisy Kopolo;
Facilitators of the workshop, Mr. John Keating and Mr. Bestone Ng’onga;
Distinguished editors and reporters;
Master of Ceremonies;

I would like to begin by congratulating you for participating in this week-long workshop designed to sharpen your professional skills, and to exchange your own best practices in economics and business reporting. And I also want to take this opportunity to thank the workshop facilitators, Mr. John Keating and Mr. Bestone Ng’onga.

I am honored that you have invited me to take part in this closing ceremony. I am very pleased that we have partnered, for three years, with the Canadian High Commission, the Association of Chartered and Certified Accountants of Zambia, and the Lusaka Press Club and the Business and Financial writers forum to organize this very important and timely workshop.

By providing accurate information about the economic and business climate of your country, journalists not only help Zambians understand what is going on in their own country, but can also influence policy discussions among government, Zambian business leaders, and international investors. Proper reporting on the business climate can help to showcase Zambia as a great investment destination, which I believe it is.

In the past year there have been many positive developments in the Zambian economic climate. The most notable is, of course, Zambia’s attainment of the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPIC) completion point, resulting in debt relief granted by most donor countries. On December 30, 2005, within a month of my arrival in Zambia, the Honorable Minister of Finance and National Planning N’gandu Magande and I signed a debt cancellation agreement of $280 million between our two countries.

We have learned from your reporting that many other countries have also forgiven Zambia’s debt load in the past few months. Other positive recent economic signs, which Zambian business journalists have properly covered with insightful reporting and analysis, have included a continued decline in inflation rates, six straight years of strong economic growth, and reduced interest rates.

These are positive developments, and the economic outlook is promising. But, we also recognize the fact that the government, private sector and civil society need to develop strategies that help to expand and diversify the Zambian economy and trade.

And you can help in this area by disseminating accurate and timely information on economic and business matters.
Information, and the speed through which it is delivered to inform the public, can make or break businesses and can affect individual investment decisions. This is particularly true in the modern economic world, due to the impact of international markets, globalization, and the speed of constantly changing technology. Businessmen in Zambia, China, England, the United States and other countries receive instant information from the business media, often on line as the information emerges, to make critical business decisions that affect millions of people.

While more and more Zambian businesses are using technology to access information, business and economic leaders depend, for the most part, on your reporting to make decisions. In much the same way, your journalism products influence and impact the decisions of government agencies, and indeed the general public.

Despite the limitations many journalists face in Zambia, I have been impressed by your reports on economic and business issues, such as those that appear in newspaper and magazine business supplements. I have met many of you and your colleagues over the past five months, and have learned of the challenges in your profession, such as lack of training opportunities and efficient working conditions.

I am pleased that our Embassy’s Public Affairs Section has responded to these challenges, making it a priority to support training opportunities for all journalists, not just you who report on business and the economy. Last month, 30 journalists participated in a training program organized by the Embassy on accurate and fair election reporting. And last year, we supported through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief a workshop on HIV/AIDS for 60 journalists.

So, we’ll continue to support training opportunities for you and your colleagues, to enhance your ability to provide the Zambian public and decision makers with accurate and timely information, which will assist them to make informed economic, political, and health decisions.

I applaud you for taking time out of your busy schedules this week to enhance your knowledge on economic and business reporting. And I look forward to reading, listening, and watching your report on this important subject matter.

Thank you.