MISSION ACTIVITIES

Introduction

Alongside New York, Geneva is the main center of international governance. It is the European headquarters of the United Nations and the most active location in as far as multilateral diplomacy is concerned. It hosts 30 international organisations, 250 international non-governmental organisations and 172 States are represented by a Permanent Mission, Zambia inclusive.

The Permanent Mission of the Republic of Zambia in Geneva, therefore is accredited to the United Nations Office and other international organisations both in Geneva and Vienna as well as to the World Trade Organisation (WTO). It is also the bilateral Mission accredited to the Swiss Confederation as of the year 2015.

The areas of focus by the Permanent Mission in Geneva and Vienna covers the activities of the world's principal sectors and the major challenges of global governance ranging from trade, health, the environment and sustainable development, training and education, peacekeeping and security, intellectual property, nuclear research, crimes in drug and human trafficking, telecommunications and labour, humanitarian action and human rights.

The Permanent Mission promotes and protects Zambia's interests and positions mainly through deliberations in the United Nations and other International Organisations. It also performs all tasks specific to multilateral diplomacy, in the same way as other United Nations member states, and thus represents Zambia's interests. 

With regard to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) the Mission monitors the work of the organization in relation to Zambia's economic interest. Other economic related Organisations include the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), World Intellectual Property and the International Trade Centre (ITC) all based in Geneva.

The Permanent Mission is also, interested in an important number of multinational companies, financial and commodity trading companies as well as a high concentration of other international corporations. The Permanent Mission shares strong ties and corroboration with most of United Nations Organisations in Geneva and Vienna, while pursuing economic bilateral relations at every level with the multinational body corporate entities.

The Permanent Mission is a key member of the African Group of Member States as coordinated by the African Union (AU), A Member of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) group of Member States, Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), Commonwealth and ECSA-HC.  

Vision
“To transform Zambia from being an exporter of primary products to a net exporter of value added products through enhanced domestic participation in the regional and global economy by 2026.”  

Overall Objective
To contribute towards Zambia's economic diversification by promoting and stimulating a competitive trade sector in order to increase the market share in the global economy.