The Zambian government has proposed a 1.8 billion kwacha (about 450,000 US dollars) budget for various activities it has lined up ahead of the South Africa World Cup in 2010, local newspaper Zambia Daily Mail reported Friday.

Deputy director in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Services Evelyn Mutubila announced it, saying the ministry was only waiting for Cabinet approval on the budget before commencing the process.

Mutubila said part of the money would go towards training sports and business journalists so they could help promote the image of the country and also fine-tune their reporting skills ahead of the Africa's biggest ever sports event.

She said there was need for the country to prepare adequately if it was to benefit from the soccer event that Africa would host for the first time since its inception in 1930.

Source: Xinhua