Zambia: UNWTO General Assembly on course
By Nawa Mutumweno – United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon will open the UNWTO General Assembly on August 26 while President Michael Sata is expected to officially close the world’s biggest tourism gathering on August 28, 2013.
According to a programme released in Livingstone on February 18, 2013 by the Zambian Minister of Tourism and Arts Sylvia Masebo, the General Assembly will be held from August 24 to 29, 2013 in Livingstone and Zimbabwe’s Victoria Falls Town.
The activities of the General Assembly have been shared equally between Zambia and Zimbabwe. The structure of the conference which is expected to attract about 4 000 delegates from around the world has since been unveiled following the meeting of the Local Organising Committee (LOC).
‘’We finalised the structure of the 20th session of the UNWTO General Assembly when we met in Madrid, Spain recently. We agreed that the opening session will take place in Zimbabwe while Zambia will host the closing session.’’
‘’The General Assembly will take place from 24th to 29th and in the memorandum of understanding we signed with our co-host, Zimbabwe, the activities have been shared equally between the two countries,’’ she said.
The first meeting of the Assembly will take place in Zambia on August 24 with the business community from 10:00 hours to 12: 00 hours.
Then there will be another meeting of the Commission for Africa in Zimbabwe from 14:30 hours to 16:00 hours.
The following morning, Zimbabwe will host the meetings of the Commissions for the Pacific and South Asia.
At the same time, the European Union and Middle East commissions will be meeting in Livingstone, Zambia.
August 25 will equally be packed with activities including a media conference in Victoria Falls Town.
‘’On the 26th of August, the UNWTO General Assembly Secretariat and staff will move to Zambia after the official opening by the UN Secretary General. The next day, Zambia will host a dinner for heads of delegation from 19 00 hours to 21 00 hours, which we are hoping will be graced by Vice President Guy Scott,’’ Ms Masebo said.
She urged the private sector to take advantage of the open breakfast and lunch spaces to sponsor activities aimed at marketing the country’s tourism and exploring business opportunities.
A day after the closure of the session, a UNWTO team will embark on technical tour of projects related to tourism in Livingstone and Mwandi.
Zambia and Zimbabwe won the joint bid to co-host the General Assembly at the 19th session in Seoul, South Korea about two years ago.
