Story by Oleen Ndori, Foreign Desk Editor
ZIMBABWE is set to leverage the upcoming Expo 2025 Osaka alongside the ninth Tokyo International Conference for African Development (TICAD) to strengthen its political and economic links with Japan.
With just a fortnight remaining before Expo 2025 Osaka commences, the Japanese Ambassador to Zimbabwe, His Excellency Shinichi Yamanaka, met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Professor Amon Murwira, in Harare this Monday.
The discussions focused on the opportunities presented by this global showcase, as well as the expectations for leaders attending the TICAD meeting in August.
“I had quite a fruitful and forward-looking discussion with Professor Murwira, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, especially this year as we have two important events for Zimbabwe and Japan, which are Osaka Kansai Expo and TICAD nine. Taking this opportunity, we discussed expanding and strengthening the business relations and also the friendship between our two countries and we agreed mutually.
“TICAD is the Tokyo International Conference for African Development. Leaders and dignitaries of all African countries will come to Japan and discuss the issues facing African countries and discuss Japan’s cooperation and contribution to African development. But also quite important that information exchange between the representatives of African countries and the counterparts of Japan. So one of the success stories is the ZimSat-1, the first Zimbabwean satellite, was started from this TICAD meeting by the initiative of Professor Murwira,” His Excellency Yamanaka said.
Professor Murwira also met with Australia’s Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Her Excellency, Minoli Perera who congratulated Dr Kirsty Coventry’s win at the International Olympics Committee along with cooperation in the education sector.
“In today’s meeting, we covered a number of things. I congratulated Zimbabwe on the appointment of former Honourable Minister, Kirsty Coventry and her appointment as president of the International Olympics Committee. We spoke with the Minister about our very successful Australia Awards scholarship programme.
“To date, we have had 159 African scholars participate in Australian-provided short courses, master’s programs, and fellowship awards programmes, and the fact that we have a number of those scholars from Zimbabwe and I am very pleased to be able to see those numbers grow,” she said.
They also spoke of the participation of Australian investors in the country’s mining and agricultural sectors and beyond.
“We also talked about the work that we both do, Zimbabwe and Australia, in the multilateral sphere. We have very much shared interests and challenges as well in many of the multilateral forums, but we work very well together, side by side, and both the Minister and I agree.
“We also talked about the business environment here in Zimbabwe, which allows greater participation of Australian investors and investment, not just in the mining and agricultural sectors. So that is something that we will continue to work hard on, to make sure that we see more Australian businesses and investors here in Zimbabwe to directly contribute to the economic success of Zimbabwe,” H.E Perera said.
Zimbabwe’s economic diplomacy thrust is looking at formulating a conducive environment that enhances trade and investment opportunities.
