The City Council of Zambia’s capital Lusaka is looking forward to signing a memorandum of cooperation with Kigali City Council (KCC) during Lusaka Mayor’s visit slated for August of this year.

Lusaka city which is currently hosting 1500 Rwanda refugees, on Wednesday accepted to cooperate with Rwanda’s delegation and UNHCR to mobilise Rwandans to fully participate in UNHCR backed repatriation.

Robert Chikwelete, Lusaka’s Mayor, was moved by ‘Umuganda’ community work that has managed to keep Kigali clean and green.

"The mayor plans to come with the delegation but his main aim is to forge the cooperation with Kigali city council, to share experiences and forge a strong partnership,” Musoni stated Friday after meeting with Lusaka officials and UNHCR over refugees repatriation.

In a telephone interview Chikwelete, said that he will have to finalize with Lusaka council on the document and who to include in the delegation to Kigali.

"We want to come to Kigali to learn from them and they learn from us and share experience and ponder how two cities can share expertise in the day-to-day operations between the two councils,” Chikwelete revealed

 "We welcome the move and the will of Lusaka council. Since we are all developing cities, we have many things in common especially in social affairs. So we shall learn a lot from them as they will also learn from us,” Kigali City Mayor, Dr. Aisa Kirabo Kakira, said

"We are also happy for the special cooperation with Lusaka ever since the former Mayor was here during the centenary celebrations. The city will always welcome and seek cooperation with other cities around the world,” Kirabo said in a phone interview.  

Former Lusaka City Mayor Steven Chilatu visited Kigali in 2007 during the celebrations to mark 1000 years of Kigali’s existence and signed a memorandum of understanding with the city council.

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