Story by Peter Chivhima
ZIMBABWE is overwhelmed by inquiries from delegates eager to attend the 15th Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (COP 15) in Victoria Falls in July.
Ahead of the COP15 summit scheduled for Victoria Falls in July, government has set up an Inter-Ministerial Committee to coordinate the event.
Speaking to ZBC on a current affairs programme, Face the Nation this Wednesday, the Minister of Environment, Climate and Wildlife, Dr Honourable Sithembiso Nyoni confirmed the widespread interest to attend the event by delegates from abroad.
“So far, the global interest is amazing. I hope that we will be able to cope with accommodation, but our government has already put in place an inter-ministerial committee which is divided into subcommittees that are looking into accommodation, logistics, conferencing, invitations, travels, protocol, health and the Secretary-General of Ramsa. My team also visited the site, and we are happy with the preparations. It’s going to take place in our famous Elephant Heroes.”
Dr Nyoni also revealed what is in store for the visitors.
“We are so grateful to our First Lady, Her Excellency, Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa who has run with the gastronomy. So we want to showcase our food, showcase our culture, apart from our wetlands and how we have preserved our wetlands. We are going to have the pavilions. China and Saudi Arabia have applied to have the biggest pavilions.
“Zimbabwe is also going to have its pavilions. We are having applications, I hope we will have enough land to have pavilions. Each country is coming to showcase their own country and what they are doing in terms of wetlands presentation.”
The 15th Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties, which will take place from July 23 to July 31 this year in the resort city of Victoria Falls is set to discuss issues around environmental conservation and preservation of wetlands.
