Story by Oleen Ndori, Foreign Editor
THE visiting African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) delegation says the targeted review is looking into different focal points and their contributions towards Zimbabwe’s economic development targets.
The delegation, led by Ambassador Aly El-Hefny entered day two with conversations with state agencies that include the RBZ, ZIMSTAT and ZimTrade, as well as the civil society, focusing on economic governance and management towards Zimbabwe’s ambition to achieve an upper middle-income society by 2030.
“The APRM was initiated in 2002, so it is a long history where we have accumulated within the continental secretariat a wonderful expertise. This is an exercise among Africans. The continental secretariat is composed of Africans, focal points representing the different governments of the member countries of the APRM. The whole structure is composed of Africans, so this is why we have to trust each other, and this is why I invite you to speak up,” Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Ambassador Albert Chimbindi said.
While the engagement process and the targeted review for Zimbabwe is underway, the question is what is the African peer review mechanism and why join or cede to it?
“You may recall that since our independence, we have always had foreign reviewers coming to review our policies, the IMF, the World Bank or the EU. Even when we had elections, we always had these external groups coming to assess our elections. But, our heads of state and government in 2003 came to the decision that no, the countries are ours, we know our policies, we know our environment better than anyone else and therefore, we needed to have our own review mechanism. Now the African peer review mechanism is an African institution for Africans by Africans,” Ambassador El-Hefny said.
Zimbabwe is making strides within the set targets to the Peer Review Mechanism, which it ascended to in February 2020.
