and zambia has been seen by many as a test case for how well the common framework works. but despite protracted negotiations, the zambia debt relief deal has collapsed, raising doubts about the workability of the common framework. zambia s president hakainde hichilema, who inherited a huge debt overhang when he was elected in 2021 has been spearheading efforts to get the country s economy back on track. i spoke to the zambian president in an exclusive interview and began by asking him about the economy. i think we did our part as a country in terms of meeting our obligations. we did that well ahead of time. now it is for the other part of the stick to come on board. the bilateral creditors, i think we are doing reasonably well. delayed? yes, it was delayed. but the private creditors, we now need to close and put this to bed so that it can create the headroom we needed, we anticipated long before. but these delays are beginning to negate the gains that we already made as a