Story by Oleen Ndori, Foreign Desk Editor
THE Westminster Africa Business Group has expressed readiness to engage Zimbabwe in various sectors for the country to attain its economic objectives.
As Zimbabwe and the United Kingdom seek to rekindle ties, the Westminister Africa Business Group is in the country to find new areas of cooperation in different sectors to support Harare’s aspirations of attaining an upper-middle-income society by 2030.
“We did introduce favorable trading conditions for African countries. It is at three levels at the moment, but I think all that does demonstrate that our government is very, very keen to increase the trade we have with Africa. We do recognize that there are enormous opportunities, but at the same time, we recognize the need to help emerging nations and help you achieve the goals set, the very ambitious goals that you have set.
“We would like to see you achieve those goals. Of course, we do have a very pro tradition of overseas assistance, but we also like to think that trade is really the best way forward and the best way to enable countries to really develop their full potential and achieve their full potential. So it’s a great pleasure for us to be here,” said the Chairperson Westminster Africa Business Group, Laurence Robertson.
Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Ambassador Frederick Shava is upbeat the engagement will unlock opportunities for increased foreign direct investment into Zimbabwe.
“I want to take this opportunity, therefore, to welcome your delegation and to say that Zimbabwe is really happy and we remain committed to resuscitating technical economic cooperation with the United Kingdom. And it is my hope that this will improve opportunities for increased foreign direct investment flows into Zimbabwe.
“This, in turn, should contribute towards continued growth and the achievement of positive strides in the line of our national development strategy. We have a strategy that we use to pilot the development program of the country. We call it NDS one, National Development Strategy One, and we hope that through this strategy, we should become an upper-middle-income economy, we used to say by 2030.
” It is my hope, therefore, that your visit to Zimbabwe presents you with the opportunity to explore areas for investment which will result which will result in a win-win situation for both parties. Our efforts are geared towards mending the broken bridges as a result of our divergent approaches to resolving land ownership issues in the past,” he said.
The government has put in place policy and legislative frameworks to safeguard investor interests while guaranteeing the protection of investments, particularly in the reconstitution of the Zimbabwe Investment Development Agency (ZIDA) into a one-stop shop that plays an integral role in the investment drive.
