 Thank you very much. Let me start by acknowledging our traditional leaders that have made us today, Abenavaka Sensor. Abenavaka Sensor, your row Highnesses in your big numbers. We appreciate your presence here today. Let me acknowledge my colleagues in cabinet with whom we had to persuade each other to make the decision as to who joins us in managing owning first and then managing Mopan. And I want to change the messaging that we are running today. We are not handing over Mopani. Government remains a shareholder in Mopani as you have had, 49%. But we are bringing in new partners, these that I want to acknowledge their presence today. Our esteemed visitors, partners from Abu Dhabi, led by the chief executives of IHC and IRH. Very, very grateful to have you here today with us. Let me acknowledge the presence here today of our provincial leadership. The minister of the province, but also it is in order to recognize the mayor of the city of Kitwe, other mayors, chairpersons that are present here today. It is in order to acknowledge members of parliament from different political parties in this, our constitutional democracy. We acknowledge all of you and thank you for the things that you've said. Two people from born out of the same mother, same father give them time to say something. Sometimes they say different things. That's okay. That's the diversity unit in diversity that we encourage. I must also acknowledge the presence of church leaders who are ministers today. I must acknowledge the public officers, those who work for the public central government, senior ones, permanent secretaries, those who work for the local government, those that work for peristatus and quasi government institutions. It is in order to recognize, in my view, humble view, that the business community are important and we must recognize them. Suppliers, unions must be recognized. Special recognition to our vehicle, the vehicle that the people of Zambia have used, not today, have been using to own some of our shares in the mining companies. ZCCMIH, obviously IDC and others. I know the chair of ZCCMIH spoke. Thank you for your presence. It's also my duty to recognize members of the press who sometimes we ignore until the story doesn't come out the way we like it. Then we phone them and say, what happened there? Why didn't you report correctly? So we recognize you, the media. And warm, warm recognition to the community of Kitwe, Mufrila and Avena Copa that once said, we recognize you here, present here. And indeed, those that are watching through the technology that is available to us now, today, these days, celebrating a new culture, celebrating a new chapter, celebrating a new beginning as our UPND government, leadership, the party leadership, we have said before when we were in opposition that this party will look at the country and manage the country differently, but better. I know many argued with us and said, hey, yeah, here in Ditemkwa, if you're finished, if you're finished. But let me say the leadership of our party, without you, would have We would have never had the opportunity to do what we are doing today, because we would have never been in government. We know what you went through to deliver this party on the copper belt. What do you want? What do you want? What do you want? But your resilience brought us into office and the ordinary citizen. I think it's time to say thank you to you. Thank you to you. Let me return to celebrating a new chapter here in Mopane as a business on the copper belt in the country, but using Mopane as a reference point today. Today marks a pivotal occasion for the copper belt and zombie as a whole, bringing a breath of fresh air. A new start for Mopane mines. A mine as Vancouver, our leader, our chief sale, an old bed for truck, dumped at the dumping site. And some looked at Mopane as one just to throw liabilities at. Loosen it just like that. You dump $1.5 billion of liability on a mine, on an asset that is worth something else. But today we are saying Mopane is a prized asset for us. For me as a cattleman, a prized bull, a prized breeding heifer. Today we celebrate the rejuvenation of Kitwe, of Mufrila. Honourable Mabeta, Honourable Mumba. The rejuvenation of Mafken. That's what we call Mufrila. Mafken. Something that was taken as a place to dump liabilities. I repeat, today we are saying this asset takes a new turn towards better days. The improvement of livelihoods in this region, on this copper belt. And I know people would like to limit the way they look at things. Life is a bit more complex than that. You rejuvenate Kitwe, Chibuluma Road, as Honourable Mbumbundu. And I discussed just three days after I assumed public office. He came to my house and challenged me. If you want me to support you, work on Chibuluma Road. I said, might you want? You've got it. Put it on the list. He challenged me that for me to prove that you are a real leader, you must resolve the Mopane problems. I said, if I'm Honourable, put it on the list. And Tualabo Merapo. That was at my house. His house. The community house. It's not a joke. This is serious. You only do things that you plan to do. You do things that you plan to do. You work on getting them done. In life, there's nothing called chance. I don't believe in chance myself. I must say here, I don't believe in lucky. Lucky comes because you've worked on something. Then things happen. And as I said, less on the people of Zambia. How can we live in Zambia? Not if we can live here and expect a better life. This is one quarrel I have with us as Zambians. We must work hard. We must work in a targeted way, in a deliberate way. In an intentional way. Then we can get things done. Not tantamene. Not tantamene. No. No, no, no, no. Apokupu san. Apokupu apu san. Tachine. Mule mafe tantamene. Deningatau li latau e. I would take over the queen. Boma iri kouti. Itwa fe kouti. Boma will assist you. But you must start working first. As individuals, as families. I know today is a happy day. I don't want to say things that may make you feel a little bit down. Or down. But they must be said. What we're witnessing today is a consequence of hard work. And I would say a few words. Just around those issues. The relaunch of Mopane. Corporal mine. With our new joint venture partners. Joint venture partners. Working together. International Resource Holdings. IRH from Abu Nabi. This is a significant moment. That citizens raise questions about. And rightly so. Mayor of the city of Kitwi. You said you were struggling. To look after the council. And the local community of Kitwi for two years. No. You were struggling for the last seven years. You were struggling for the last seven years. Not two years. I will inquire. Is it in Tuchamopane? Before we form the government ourselves. We must get our facts right. Facts will help us. To solve our problems. And not point wrong fingers. Or fingers at the wrong people. But we're here to. We're in it together. We're in it together. So. It is important. That citizens work together. We're in it together. We're in it together. It is important. That citizens were waited for so long. For this asset to be turned around. Today can celebrate. Today. They can look at. Kitwemufu Rila. Through the prism of. A rejuvenating. Mopane in a different way. Area Syrian. Tabio. Kale Wangu. Kale Wangu. Kale Kale. Kale Kale. Kale Kale. Kale Wangu. Kale Kale. Kale Wangu. Kale Kale. Kale Wangu. Kale Kale. Kale Wangu. Kale Kale. Kale Kale. Honoring our partners. Honoring our partners. Honoring our partners. Let's pay a special tribute to His Highness. to His Highness. Sheikh Mohammed. ... The ruler of Abu Dhabi and president of UAE. Shortly after forming government, the president, yourself, and I took a trip there. We scanned the world, geopolitics. We looked carefully in the east, in the west. We understood the challenges. You step just one step to the east. The west is squeaking. One step you are in Washington, Beijing is squeaking. You are in Beijing, Washington is squeaking. Fish grits stick up. We have more money to serve. Nobody washed a shan. I said we will not look east, we will not look west, we will look in the middle. We said we will look at the GCC, the Gulf Co-operating Council, and we started working around. I don't want to say too much. The rest is history. You understand what I mean. And that's why we are here today. Those early steps, those deliberate steps, and we are happy that the ruler of Abu Dhabi and the president of UAE, United Arab Emirates, allowed this team, allowed this team, heard what we were looking for, and we found common ground. Welcome, everybody. And a few people. I want to thank you, I want to thank all of you. I want to thank my colleague, my colleague, my brother from there. We also want to give a special thanks to the president of the UAE, president of the UAE for another reason, for allowing His Highness Sheikh Tanon Ben Zayed Aounayan to do, the chairman of IHC, to allow him to support this process, special appreciation for that. The team that we worked with from the early days, you know, sometimes Zambians can make you feel like you've been running the country for 10 years, when it's only 2 years, 6 months. Because they lampoon you with all the problems, even those that you inherited. And in a way, whoa. Then we said it is important that as a country we do things deliberately, not by chance. So I want to say what you're witnessing today is not a chance issue, it's a deliberately orchestrated process to be where we are today. And I ask Zambian sometimes, like what a patience he, otherwise those before us, that's why I value posafi fintu. But posafi, we're up 1.5 billion dollars that you eat this day. Our way. Life is not like that. So thank you to our colleagues and the team that we worked with, chairman, you're allowed to work with us. We're very grateful for that. Strategic developments, strategic development, achievement, upon taking office, we realized Mopanu was a critical asset to Ketue, to Mufrila, to Koba, to Zambia, critical asset. And we took a decision which culminated into what you're seeing today. This is a very important asset, should never have been allowed to degenerate, to decline, should have never been allowed to risk the integrity of the assets in Mopanu, in their totalities. You pay the price, you do those things. And I hope the country is learning something out of this. Today is a confirmation that the two partners, UAE, ABDAB in particular, Zambia, cave the mutual respect. You can only do such things if there's mutual respect. I'm honest with you. For my sins of the past as a corporate finance guy, as a transactions guy, you can never consummate a transaction if there's no mutual respect. Never. Never works. You can try, but you'll never work. So thank you for that mutual respect. We must cherish it, celebrate it. Let me disclose a few facts. Mopanu was not only receiving capital injection, he was not just going to receive capital injection out of this transaction. For mine development, it is also this transaction going to see a substantial debt reduction. In our country, we inherited a debt stock, official creditors, bilaterals, private creditors, as you know, bondholders, which we've been working very hard to resolve. We spent sleepless nights since we took office to resolve that, because we know that Python is creating a problem for us, squeezing our necks, our ribs, and our legs, called debt mounting, which we inherited. We didn't create it, and we're trying to unwrap the Python, others are making noise. But the point is that part of the debt mountain we're having to deal with is not just the official creditors and the private creditors, as you know. It is including in companies like Mopanu, $1.5 billion of debt was lampooned on Mopanu. By ourselves, those who came before us. It's not about talking about those who were there before us. It's us as a people, it's us as a people, collective responsibility. But that debt grew to a level of $1.72 billion thereabouts, just sitting in Mopanu. This transaction has allowed us to unwrap this Python of the $1.72 billion of debt on Mopanu. And we brought it down, we brought the figure to somewhere around US$576 million. These are the small details that Zambians need to understand. This is why they need to work diligently over a period of time. If you take over a house and it doesn't get swept, it's not just the debt you are seeing. Tefi Kofi Mule Mwona Paria. Kwa liwa nama rats under the cupboards there. Kwa liwa nama rats, kwa liwa nama... Nen chan? Nen penfu? So it even... Even if I let it come. Because behind what you saw as citizens, there were other complications. So we had to bring Glenconn board. We had to bring suppliers. I have a supplier but never woke up, Tefi. There were complications around suppliers who had not been paid. Not for two years. For four, five, six years. There were complications around workers. The union leadership have spoken here. There were complications around the council. The mayor has spoken. There were complications in the constituencies. Abena mbundu. Abena binu mbundu, nabalandapa. Abena maweta, nabalandapa. Abena mumba, nabalandapa. Abeni, nabalandapa. So the complications were not what you were seeing like these two flags. When you see that Zambian flag, you see the green. You see the black color, orange. You see the red. Actually, to form that red color, there were more colors that were added there. That's the truth about life. So I am appealing to the people of Zambia that you must look between the lines when you are faced with problems and try and be part of the solution rather than be the problem, perpetual problem. Here we are. I don't think you knew about what I've just told you. I don't think so. So we had to deal with these issues. There were court cases. And I say to Kavosue, Minister of Finance is here, Minister of Transport is here, Minister of, you know, Corporate Board is here. This government doesn't want to do business in court. We don't want to mine in court, especially in courts in London. That's very expensive. Before you appear in court in London, you've already forked out $10,000 a ticket. Before you even find accommodation. So we had to take out these court matters and bring them in the boardrooms. Hence what we're witnessing today. I believe you can see what I'm talking about. Mopani's copper production, Abena Kitwa, Abena Mahfouken, went down to 65,000 metric tons only. With this transaction, the copper production from Mopani will scale up to 230,000 metric tons. Area sheedy. Adding on towards our three million tons target. This is what you do when you run a country. You don't just walk like you are in the dark room. No. It's not a problem to arise overshad. We're running up on a cabin. We're running up on a cabin. Fellow citizens, with this production increase that we expect, the mine plans we've agreed with our partners, the mine development plans, there will be more jobs. First, there will be security of tenure for the people who work there. Your jobs were fragile because you could lose a job anytime. If the mine is not performing, your job is at stake. What's your job? What's your job? What's your job? What's your job? Oh, this is simple stuff. This is simple stuff. She'll have time for my graph up. Jobs that are in Mopani, including the jobs of suppliers, my dear friends. Your jobs, the jobs of the people who employ as suppliers and contractors are anchored on the viability of Mopani. If Mopani is not viable, you cannot sustain your jobs. So you must support Mopani. You must support this transaction. To learn when I win a winner. Ah, support this transaction. It is in your self-interests. Now you are being paid what you have not been paid for four years. It's a time to celebrate. It's a time to say thank you to someone, not me, but to the people of Zambia. To the people of Zambia. More jobs will come along. More jobs will come, more benefits to, more business opportunities will come, including to our marketeers at Shisoka on the markets. Because my customer's number, Bakula Isa, Muitumba. Muitumba, there will be something because it's coming from their mind. Kassamvin, right? Kassamvin. All of us will benefit. That's what I'm calling strategic benefits that will come out of this transaction. National pride. Let me talk for a while. National pride. Just our Zambian pride. That the Zambians, today's Zambians, through this transaction, through the CCMIH, you are returning 49% as you have had. So this is not a handover. It's a welcoming and new partner. This pride, indeed, you will remain owners. You will participate at the board level. You will participate at the management level. You will participate in the job profiling. But Muimbanga has a vocal career. Muimbanga has a vocal, deep voice. Who will be able to learn it? More jobs. Yes, there will be more jobs. Quality jobs. But he raised something that people didn't pick. I like to watch the body language. When he was talking about workers of suppliers and contractors, he raised the criticism here that if they are being paid by Mopani, they too must pay their workers. I think that's what he was saying here. So Mu'umilepapupin. Mu'umilepapupin. Now, national pride. This is very important. Let me move on to local benefits. Very briefly. The introduction of a supplier development program in partnership with UNDP is part of the menu. Supplier development program. It requires farmers, ambient suppliers so that they can supply in a credible and decent manner. It's very important. Training them, working with them. I don't know about what experience, but there's need to have the experience where you deliver your product to the service which is of quality at a fair price and you deliver on time. Fit to finger. Quality, fair price, on time. No. This is why the country's economy went down to minus 2.8% GDP growth because we're delivering air. And those who are delivering Mu'umilepapupin, ever they shout a sound, I've not been paid. I've not been paid, but they delivered air. Anyway, you people behind, don't motivate me to say more things. Yes, let me. Ha ha ha ha ha. So, supplier development program in partnership with UNDP, in partnership with the Chamber of Mines, and the unions, and the suppliers themselves. So that we work as one team. Very important. This program will enhance the capacity of ambient suppliers. It will also assist you, the suppliers, and invariably your workers, to access capital. Very important. Capital in your businesses. Fairly priced capital. Minister of Mines, Minister of Finance, Minister of the Copper Girl. I am using this opportunity to explain through this transaction, Zambian Government, UPND policies as well. These are the ones I'm talking about here. But you can't implement policies on your own. You need partners like these. You need unions. You need supplier associations. You need the workers to cooperate. Honourable Marbetta, I heard what you said here. I took mental notes, all the MPs were spoken, we heard. But we want to work in a way that we promote workers' interests in this mopani so that workers are better looked after, including social corporate responsibilities or programs. But we want to promote suppliers also so that they supply correctly, effectively. We also want to support the company so that we don't sink mopani because of this transaction and that we require some guapo. Mulekutika. That we require some guapo now. Draining the business to a point that it cannot be viable. If it's not be viable, we all lose. Simple. So it's in our interest to support mopani to be commercially viable. So everything we say we need must be put in context so that the workers are happy, suppliers are happy, unions are happy, Kittwa City Council is happy, Mufrila is happy, the mine is also happy and it's progressing. Shareholders are also happy. Kwa Bulama shareholders, there will be no money we are talking about here. I thought I should give this small lecture. So there is always diversified interest which we must take account of. The coin has two sides, right? If you flip it, you see the heads, someone heads, someone says, what is the coin? How does it look like? Nine-quarter head. But flip it, the other, tail. But it's one coin. So we want this coin called mopani to survive all rounds, to succeed all rounds. Future vision, international investments. I want Zambian companies. I edge Zambian companies, business people here. Emulate the success of our counterparts, these from Abu Dhabi, from UAE. Let's emulate what they've achieved. Look at this country. I've been studying this country. I read, I research, I look, and I say, they've moved. Fifty years ago, what was this country? What was this country? Fifty years ago. What is it today? Kumbumba. Let us work as a country. Honestly speaking, if you can't learn some lessons from colleagues, I don't know what sort of person you are. Me, I'm a perpetual student. I'm learning every day. Even when I'm dreaming, I'm learning something. So we want to say open here some elements that are relevant of the business culture, where these partners of ours are coming from. We want to incorporate those in the way we work so that we can move Zambia forward, develop this country. Let Zambia be what it should be. Area shift. Let's learn how they use the oil resources. Not many natural resources they have, but they've used the limited resources effectively. Let's use our copper, cobalt, nickel, manganese, lithium, all of them. Emeralds. Emeralds. Sujila. Everything. Let's use them properly. That's a message. I don't want to say anything more. Ninanda pafula. Ninanda pafula. The late President Chiluba will say, Toa chula pafula. Toa chula pafula. But Ilingi, nifue wo, nifue wo, who don't make the right decisions when those decisions are needed. Nifue wo, who don't work hard. Nifue wo, who cheat ourselves. Sh.... Who's that color change? You know? I know jane nifue wo. Wh.. I know jane has... We have you over here. The storms are over. Have you. This is the issue we create for ourselves. point a finger. Let's work diligently as a country. God loved us so much, gave us a beautiful country, rich country, resources, but why having our people to be poor? We have a drought now. Let's work with the government. Let's work with the traditional leaders and the church to ensure we do two things. Feed our people one, two, gravitate agriculture to irrigation. We need your support in all these areas. Mopane is one example only, but shaft 28, shaft 28, you have seen things are happening already there. Twenty years that mine has been dead, but this government in two and a half years, there's work going on shaft 28. Something going on in Mimbola, Mengomba, Lubambe, KCM. This thing is giving me sleepless nights, but we are working very hard on KCM. We don't want to do it wrongly because it was done wrongly before. So we want to do it correctly. It's difficult. It was messed up, but we are working very hard. That's my request. I can go on. The copper belt is now back in life, back, and we want to take it beyond what it was in the 80s, in the 70s, including football clubs, Friila Wanderers, Goni United, Nkana. Those clubs will only get better when the businesses are working well. That's what we're trying to do. That's the sequence. Let me appreciate once more our partners. Let me appreciate that my colleagues were able to visit us towards concluding this transaction during the holy month of Ramadan. They were able to visit us. That's commitment. That's commitment. And we wish you well as you travel back to Abu Dhabi and pass our home regards to my brother, the government, and the people of UAE. How can I talk this language without thanking the Zambian team, the Zambian team, the cabinet that agreed to this transaction, the committee of ministers that worked on this transaction, the technical team committed that work on this transaction, advisors, the workers of Mopani, who were very patient, the unions, the suppliers, contractors, and various stakeholders, but more importantly, the people of Zambia, who gave us the opportunity to save this country in these capacities. I tell my cabinet colleagues, we are lucky people. Out of 20 million Zambians, you choose this fellow speaking here to be your president. I'm a lucky guy. I must deserve it. I must work hard. I must work hard to be the minister of mines out of 20 million Zambians. God loves you to be the minister of finance, minister of transport, minister of copper belt. Out of 20 million Zambians, we must deserve it by working hard. We must work hard. We must work hard. We are the mayor of Kitwe. Out of so many people of Kitwe, the MPs, elected officials, councillors, Tient Wombilavantu, not if you are Kulandarandaio, Tient Wombilavantu. That's my call, but I also call on the people of Zambia to do your part, to work hard, to work hard, to be focused. You can only help a people that want to be helped. You can't help somebody who doesn't want to be helped. You can take the horse to the drinking point for water. If it doesn't want to drink water, it will not drink. It will just stand there. Why the horse anyway? Let me talk about cows. And I was listening to one politician, a competitor of mine, said, ah, HH likes going to the ranch. It's a useless place of his. He's just looking at cows. Really? You're calling cows useless? Really? These beasts can educate all your children. Now, you can see there's a total misunderstanding of what work is, what business assets is. After saying that about HH, afternoon she's smiling, drives the supermarket, and buys beef from shop right, from pick and play, and she's buying the beef from HH. And she enjoys her dinner. Thank you for the applause for the head of state. One more please while we are still standing. He deserves your standing ovation.