Zambia’s economic diplomacy and the mining industry: An African case study of presidential impact and hopes of a New Dawn

ABSTRACT This article uses a broad conceptual framework of economic diplomacy to examine the efficacy of Zambia’s engagement with foreign governments, regional and international organisations, and companies, in the pursuit of investment and trade partners for its mining industry. It argues that successive presidents have had an important impact on investment in mining in two ways – through their balancing of international partnerships and economic diplomacy, and through their national economic and social policy agendas. The article provides an initial examination of the Hichilema government in Zambia and how it has balanced implicit tensions among international actors, international and local priorities, and domestic stakeholders, in the context of the growing demand for ‘green minerals’. This article concludes that further investment in Zambia’s mining sector to meet national development ambitions requires a broadening of the government’s economic diplomacy beyond a presidency-centric approach to a holistic strategy encompassing domestic institution development and regional cooperation.