Zambia-India Relations in the Era of Economic Liberalization and Globalization
Bizeck Jube Phiri
University of Zambia
Zambia and India’s economic and political relations have existed for a very long time. The two countries have cooperated from the time that India attained independence from Britain. From then, Zambia turned to India for both political and economic support, in its struggle for independence against British colonial rule. The first republican President and other nationalist freedom fighters visited India and met Indian political leaders for material and moral support. While India as a country was giving this support, Indians who were resident in the country—some of whom became citizens at independence—also contributed significantly to the attainment of Zambia’s independence.
After independence in 1964, the two countries continued to relate very well and were both members of the Non-Aligned Movement. For several years, especially after 1973, Zambia became a one party participatory democracy and its economy was under direct control of the government. The situation changed in 1991 following the re-introduction of multi-party democracy under the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD). The economy was liberalized and many Indian businesses opened up in Zambia.
This paper seeks to examine the extent to which the new political and economic regime in the era of globalization facilitated closer ties between India and Zambia. Further, this paper intends to show that Zambian labour is more comfortable and that labour relations are peaceful in Indian firms than in other foreign owned companies. Thus, while there are other foreign companies in Zambia, Indian owned companies appear to contribute more favourably to industrial harmony in this era of globalization as Zambia commemorates fifty years of independence.
