How can we balance the country's leadership when there aren't enough women reaching Grade 12? - Inonge Mbikusita-Lewanika

For the past six years, the economy has grown by 5%, and I expect it to reach 6% this year. Previously, only one province produced copper, but now a second province is producing both copper and gold. We also have reserves of cobalt, uranium, and precious stones. Zambia is therefore rich in minerals, and we are actively inviting investors. Many have already come, driving economic growth and creating jobs. The economic outlook is very positive, and both the World Bank and IMF are pleased with our progress.

A portion of the economic growth resulted from improved management of financial resources. This enabled Zambia to reach the completion point for the HIPC (Heavily Indebted Poor Countries) Initiative for debt relief, thanks to greater transparency within the Ministry of Finance and more effective management of budget allocation and spending.

I was brought up by politicians, and my parents were active in the politics of the country. My mother did a lot of work with women and trying to improve the lot of women. She demonstrated her own participation in public life, first of all by going to school--and not only to primary school, but to a higher school, which was very rare in those days. And then she also was a professional woman. She was a teacher. She was a founding member of YWCA in Zambia. She was the first woman in Northern Rhodesia--that's what Zambia was called before--to register as a voter, the first African woman to do that.