Signing and Exchange of Notes for the Provision of Mineral Analysis Instruments under the Economic and Social Development Programme
On 13th March 2025, at the Ministry of Finance and National Planning in Lusaka, H.E. Mr. TAKEUCHI Kazuyuki, Ambassador of Japan to Zambia, and Honourable Dr. Situmbeko Musokotwane, Minister of Finance and National Planning, signed and exchanged notes for the provision of mineral analysis instruments under the Economic and Social Development Programme, to provide a grant amounting up to one hundred and eighty-two million Japanese yen (\182,000,000), which is approximately 1.2 million US dollars. The purpose of this grant is to support the procurement of laboratory equipment at the Geological Survey Department under the Ministry of Mines and Minerals Development, for monitoring and regulation of the minerals industry in Zambia.
Zambia’s mining industry is one of the crucial sectors to the country’s economic recovery. However, the country’s geological data has not been updated since it was developed in the 1970s, and this has been one of the barriers to attracting private sector investment in exploration and mining. In addition, the lack of equipment to identify the composition of minerals has also been a serious challenge to analyzing them with sufficiency accuracy.
It is against this background that the Government of Japan decided to provide this grant aid, which is expected to improve the mineral analysis capacity and update the geological data, and help increase mineral extraction and exports. It is expected that the exploration and mining activities will accelerate, thereby contributing to increased national tax revenues and poverty reduction in the country through economic and social development, as outlined in Zambia’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper and the long-term development plan of the country "Vision 2030."
The Government of Japan hopes to contribute to value addition to minerals through the use of the laboratory equipment provided under this grant and the promotion of the mining sector as a whole, by strengthening Zambia’s mineral analysis capacity.
To read the speech by Ambassador Takeuchi, please click here.