Namibia, Zambia, and Angola have the potential to trade oil and gas instead of relying on foreign markets that are thousands of kilometres away.

This is the view of Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema, who urged the private sector to work together. 

At the Swakopmund International Expo, Zambia's Head of State listed a number of minerals in Namibia and Zambia.

"Why do we have to buy oil from the Middle East? We are just your neighbours here. I'm sure my nephew when he was looking for his wife, maybe he even crossed the river illegally there. But to put a litre of fuel in the car, imagine it is coming from not this ocean here, but from the Arabian sea. What is it that has separated us for so long? So as you find oil and gas, I said to my cabinet, 'Let's go there and be on the ground while we talk to our colleagues, so we don't have to rely on oil and gas from such faraway places'."

The Zambian president also urged Namibia to join his country in its bid to use oil from Angola.

"We are exploring for oil and gas, but we never utilise Angolan oil. I was in Angola two months ago. We don't want to miss that opportunity with you, so you have a partner with us, you have a friend in us, and we are here to work with business."

Hichilema says the SADC region is endowed with minerals needed to produce electric vehicles and called on the two countries to team up.
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"This is a time to organise ourselves properly. It's not only for Zambia and Congo, it's for us all, Namibia included. If we organise ourselves properly, we will then be able to transform our economies in a revolutionary way."

Namibia and Zambia signed an agreement two weeks ago for the private sector to construct an oil and gas pipeline from Walvis Bay to Zambia.