Top news items in major Zambia media outlets

The following are news highlights in Zambia's major media outlets on Saturday.

-- Zambian President Edgar Lungu said the trend of exporting cotton in its raw form should be halted because it was retrogressive to the country's development aspirations.

He has since directed relevant ministries to explore ways of setting up textile mills to create jobs and earn the country foreign exchange (Zambia Daily Mail)

-- Zambia has scooped the 'Best Stand for Doing Business' award at the 2017 World Travel Market Africa in South Africa.

The Zambian stand took the award at the event which was attended by about 5,000 travel and tourism professionals, alongside 550 exhibitors from over 45 countries (Times of Zambia)

-- The Zambian government has set a target of achieving 100 percent water supply coverage and 90 percent access to sanitation services by 2030, a senior official has said.

Minister of Water Development and Sanitation Lloyd Kaziya said the government would require 229 million U.S. dollars and an additional 149 million dollars to build and maintain safely managed water and sanitation services each year respectively up to 2030 (Daily Nation)

-- Unionized workers at the Tanzania Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA) have signed a collective agreement that has seen a new salary exchange rate effected.

Crews and Allied Workers Union of Zambia (CRAWUZ) president Bevis Silumbe said when he addressed TAZARA workers that the new agreement would run for an interim period of three months.(The Mast) Endit