Africa-Press – Zambia. United States Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen is set to arrive in Zambia on her Africa tour today. During her visit, Secretary Yellen will participate in various activities and meetings to highlight joint efforts between the US and Africa to promote global health and economic development.
Secretary Yellen’s first stop will be at a community health site, where she will tour the facility and participate in a discussion on joint efforts to advance global health. She will then visit Mylan Lab’s Lusaka distribution center, which employs 75 workers and helps distribute anti-malarial and anti-retroviral treatments. The Secretary will tour the facility and highlight the role of the US in promoting a healthy population in Africa.
Afterwards, Secretary Yellen will have a lunch with business leaders from the American Chamber of Commerce in Zambia, followed by bilateral meetings with President Hakainde Hichilema, Minister of Finance Situmbeko Musokotwane, and Governor of the Bank of Zambia Denny H. Kalyalya.
One of the key issues that Secretary Yellen will be discussing during her visit is the issue of Zambia’s debt, particularly its debt to China. Zambia has been struggling to repay its debt, which has led to calls for a multilateral debt restructuring agreement. The potential agreement is seen as a crucial test case for efforts to help developing countries find relief from sometimes crushing external debt.
Secretary Yellen has expressed cautious optimism that China will be willing to enter into such an agreement. During her meeting with her Chinese counterpart, Liu He, in Zurich on Wednesday, Secretary Yellen raised the case of Zambia and received a “constructive” response from China.
“Our counterparts are sophisticated economics officials who can listen to a reasoned argument and understand it,” Yellen told reporters in Dakar, Senegal, on Saturday. “I definitely think they get what the problem is, and that there needs to be a solution.”
However, China has appeared to drag its feet on agreeing to a restructuring deal with Zambia. Yellen shed some light on why this may be the case, saying “They have issues about why multilateral development banks don’t have to take a haircut, and that needs to be worked through.”
Despite this, Yellen remains optimistic about the possibility of a deal. “But we have counterparts who we are able to talk to in a reasonable way, and work through our differences, and I hope out of that process that some progress will come,” she said.
On January 24, Secretary Yellen will tour two agricultural-related sites in Zambia. During her visit, the Secretary will deliver remarks highlighting the work the Treasury Department and the US government are engaged in to promote climate-resilient agriculture and food production, as well as to mitigate the global spillover effects of Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine.
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