Russia Ambassador to Zambia has said the country was working on an agreement to write off Zambia's debt on a basis of "debt for development programs", the Zambia Daily Mail reported on Saturday.
Russian Ambassador to Zambia Boris Malakov said in Zambia's Ndola District on the Copperbelt province on Friday that an important area of Russian assistance was to lessen the debt burden for African countries.
Speaking at a business seminar at the on-going Zambia International Trade Fair (ZITF), the Russian envoy said of the total two billion U.S. dollars African debt cancelled, Russia occupies a leading place among the G8 countries.
The Russian envoy said his government was ready to allocate an additional 100 million dollars in assistance to the poorest nations in the next three years but urged Zambia to diversify its economy in sectors such as agriculture and tourism instead of depending too much on copper.
He further called on the private sector in the southern African country to partner with Russian companies.