Zambian leader says country to learn from China's economic development

Zambian President Edgar Lungu said his government will learn how China has managed to become economically independent so that the African country stops depending on foreign aid, state media reported on Monday.

The Zambian leader, in remarks delivered upon return from South Africa where he attended the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) summit held last week, said it was important for the country to learn how China has managed to become an economic power house in the world.

"It was a good outing in the sense that we saw how cooperation between China and Africa has worked in Zambia," said the president, adding the country can not continue to be completely dependent on foreign aid, the Zambia Daily Mail reported.

"Even in human life, one's dignity lies in being self-independent. We need to learn from China where they are economically independent. For Zambia we need to learn what China did some years back to be where they are today. And there are a lot of lessons," he said.

According to him, all African countries should strive to become independent because their sovereignty depends on how an individual country handles economic independence.

Last Friday, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced in his opening remarks at the summit that China will roll out 10 major cooperation initiatives with Africa in areas including industrialization, agriculture and infrastructure in the coming three years.

China will also offer 60 billion U.S. dollars of funding support to facilitate the implementation of these programs. Endit