Hichilema to open 2026 Mining Insaka today as DRC and Botswana send envoys

President Hakainde Hichilema is expected to open the 2026 Zambia Mining and Investment Insaka at the Mulungushi International Conference Centre in Lusaka today, Monday 19 October. The meeting runs until Friday 23 October, and organisers expect more than 1,500 participants. Special envoys of the presidents of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Botswana will attend, alongside representatives of the World Bank, the European Union and the African Development Bank. Business people from Australia, China and the United Arab Emirates are also expected. Dr Hapenga Kabeta, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Mines and Minerals Development, told a press briefing at the conference centre that the presence of the two envoys showed the Insaka's growing standing as a platform for regional trade and investment. He was joined by Happy Mbulo, Chief Executive Officer of Butella Investment Holdings, and Inonge Mpupuni, the company's Director of Sponsorship and Resource Mobilisation. What is on the table This year's theme is "Transforming Africa's Mining Landscape: Regional Value Chains, Shared Prosperity and Empowering Communities." Dr Kabeta said the talks would focus on three priorities: adding value to minerals, creating jobs, and strengthening mining value chains across the region. Organisers expect business deals and joint ventures to come out of the week. The meeting is tied to the Grow Zambia Agenda, under which the government wants annual copper production to reach three million metric tonnes by 2031. Dr Kabeta said the Insaka would support that goal. Alongside it, the Presidential Delivery Unit is running Delivery Labs through October, bringing government, the private sector and development partners together to draw up roadmaps for eight priority areas of the economy, with mining among them. Why it matters Copper is Zambia's biggest export and the main source of the foreign currency the country uses to pay for imports such as fuel and medicine. The Insaka is the mai