Zambia

The bilateral relationship is modest but friendly, inasmuch as it is based on our shared values. Less than two months after his election, former President Mwanawasa was received in Paris in February 2002 for a NEPAD meeting. He was Zambia’s first Head of State to take part in an Africa-France Summit (February 2003). The February 2005 visit of the Minister responsible for Cooperation, Development and Francophony, Xavier Darcos, to Lusaka led to the signing of an aide-mémoire on the coordination and harmonization of aid to Zambia. The reopening in late 2004 of the Zambian Embassy in Paris, closed since 1996, was a testimony to the quality of the bilateral relationship.

President Mwanawasa suffered a stroke during the AU Summit in Sharm El Sheikh in July 2008, after which he was hospitalized in France (at Hospital Percy), where he died on 19 August 2008. Zambia was very touched by the considerations and also by the medical and logistical support provided by our country under these circumstances.

Updated on 14.06.09