NECOR appeals for zero tariff on all ICT products

NECOR Zambia has appealed to the government for zero tariff rates on imports of ICT equipment in order to promote domestic use of ICT.

Speaking at the ICT Roadshow in Lusaka last week, NECOR Managing Director Friday Mwamba said that the launch of the country's ICT policy last year may not have far-reaching results unless the tariff on imported ICT products is abolished.

Meanwhile, Director of Foreign Trade Dorothy Tembo delivered a speech on behalf of Commerce Trade and Industry Minister Felix Mutati reaffirming the government's determination to see growth in the local industry. Specific to the ICT industry, Mutati noted that the ICT policy is now in place, removing the duty on computer parts and reducing the duty on computers to 5 percent.

Mutati said the government's expectation is that ICT will grow to become one of the major drivers of the Zambian economy as a result of these efforts.

"It was one of the government's desires to see computers being assembled in Zambia and made easily accessible to the ordinary person at affordable prices to promote computer literacy," he said.

Mutati urged industry and government to embrace ICT as a dependable, effective and efficient result-oriented tool that compliments manual labor. He further stated that the Zambian government is committed to providing an environment that facilitates industry expansion, heralding the ongoing automation of government systems, in particular.

"Solutions like document management systems, once implemented, should reduce the amount of paper work and provide orderly record-keeping by automating the archival and retrieval of documents in electronic form," said Mutati.