Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Mulambo Haimbe issued two statements in Lusaka on Wednesday 21 October, one for each of the President’s engagements. The first, reported by Lusaka Times, said President Hakainde Hichilema would take part in an Extraordinary Summit of SADC Heads of State and Government held virtually that day, preceded by a virtual extraordinary meeting of the SADC Council of Ministers. The agenda covers outstanding matters including the filling of treaty positions and the election of the incoming chairperson of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation. Mr Haimbe said the President’s participation underscored Zambia’s commitment to supporting the discussions, strengthening the SADC Secretariat and advancing regional integration, peace and security. No outcome had been reported by the time this edition closed.
Harare on Thursday
The second statement, reported by Zambia Monitor, confirmed that the President will attend the 25th COMESA Summit of Heads of State and Government in Harare on Thursday 22 October, hosted by Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa under the theme ‘One Market, One Future: Advancing Inclusive Industrialisation, Investment and Regional Integration in COMESA’. The summit will see the chairmanship pass from Kenya’s William Ruto to Mr Mnangagwa, with a new bureau of Zimbabwe as chair, Eswatini as vice-chair and Kenya as rapporteur. Zambia hosts the COMESA Secretariat in Lusaka and is not part of the bureau changes.
Mr Haimbe linked the trip to the Grow Zambia agenda of expanding trade and attracting investment, and said the President is expected to hold bilateral meetings on the sidelines on trade, investment and development priorities. He said Zambia, as host of the Secretariat, remains firmly committed to the objectives and ideals of COMESA.
‘Trade maize, not soldiers’
The regional round began on Monday 19 October, when the President opened the 20th ordinary session of the Regional Inter-Ministerial Committee of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region in Lusaka — a session Zambia hosted after the Democratic Republic of Congo could not, and which coincides with the 20th anniversary of the Great Lakes Pact on Security, Stability and Development, Lusaka Times reported. News Diggers reported him saying that hungry populations are hard to govern and can turn on those in charge, that countries in the region should trade food with one another rather than station soldiers at border posts, and that leaders should tackle the root causes of conflict by creating opportunities at home — linking migration to Europe to economic conditions in the region.
You know that Europeans are unhappy with us because a lot of our people are crossing into Europe
— President Hakainde Hichilema, opening the ICGLR Regional Inter-Ministerial Committee meeting in Lusaka on Monday 19 October, as reported by News Diggers
We should have non-stop border posts. Technology allows that to happen,
— President Hakainde Hichilema, at the ICGLR Regional Inter-Ministerial Committee session in Lusaka on Monday 19 October, as reported by Lusaka Times
Lusaka Times also reported the President asking what progress had been made by running the region’s meetings the same way for 20 years, and saying that Zambia had not caused the conflict in the region but was suffering its effects. Taken together, the three engagements place Zambia at the table for the region’s security architecture, its largest trading bloc and the Great Lakes process in the same week.
Sources: Lusaka Times, “President Hichilema To Attend Virtual Extraordinary SADC Summit Today” (21 Oct 2026); Zambia Monitor, “Hichilema to attend 25th COMESA summit in Harare” (21 Oct 2026); News Diggers, “Hungry people hard to govern, they can knock you down, bring conflict – HH” (20 Oct 2026); Lusaka Times, “Trade maize, not soldiers: Hichilema challenges Great Lakes region” (19 Oct 2026).