The minister of Zambia's North West Province, Robert Lihefu, emphasised this week that his country was interested in the Lobito Corridor for inter-regional development, as he considered it to be a strong project and a route to link nations from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean.
He made the statements after a meeting with governor of the Angolan Province of Moxico, Ernesto Muangala, and his delegation, who took part in the 2nd Meeting of the Forum for Regional Cooperation and Cultural Exchange between the two provinces in Solwezi this week.
The Lobito Corridor will become the main rail transport infrastructure linking the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia to global markets through Angola.
From Zambia and DRC it will be extended to Tanzania and finally to the Indian Ocean.
The Lobito Rail Corridor stretches for almost 1 300 kilometres in Angola, passing through the provinces of Benguela, Huambo, Bié and Moxico. In addition the infrastructure links the DRC and Zambia in a 400-kilometre stretch. The DRC link will be run by the National Railway Society of Congo.
For Muangala, the project will facilitate commercial transactions and the export of copper and nickel. The region is the world's second-largest producer of cobalt and has the largest nickel reserves in the world.
He also highlighted the importance of the cooperation forum, adding that it could increase and improve partnerships in the trade and cultural sectors.
The United States is investing $1 billion to establish the corridor, as reported in Freight News recently.
