Story by Abigirl Tembo, Health Editor
A high-powered delegation of Indian business leaders which is in the country to explore investment opportunities is eager to invest in the country based on the existing potential for growth.
The team, comprising representatives from various sectors, met Vice President General (Retired) Dr Constantino Chiwenga and government ministers in Harare this Monday, to explore business opportunities in various sectors of the economy.
The visit comes after Vice President Chiwenga’s participation at the India-Africa Business Conclave in August this year.
“We can truly say that we are going to be going back as goodwill ambassadors of Zimbabwe and there are a lot of areas that we have discussed for cooperation such as innovations in agriculture, technology, infrastructure development, healthcare, and solar amongst other renewable energies,” the leader of business delegation Mr Rahul Mutha said.
“Like what the Vice President rightly said, we are connected, India and Zimbabwe are connected like an umbilical cord and we can’t negate that. As young businessmen, we commit that we are going to be coming forward with innovative solutions and investments in these areas and see to it that there are ample opportunities for the people of Zimbabwe even in terms of better infrastructure, better healthcare and serving this country in any way that we can.
“We are a multi-sectorial delegation of under 20 people. We represent infrastructure, agriculture, food processing, healthcare, renewable energy, education and legal services. So as we speak, one of our delegates is already looking at setting up a skill training centre in Zimbabwe. So I feel that is a testimony of the current bilateral relations and how it’s paving forward.”
India’s Ambassador to Zimbabwe His Excellency Bramha Kumar reaffirmed his country’s commitment to supporting Zimbabwe’s economic growth.
“Our best interest here is to support Zimbabwe in its restructuring, in its way which is the search for prosperity, and India will be able to help Zimbabwe and our South-South cooperation. Also, we have our centuries-old relations, which we value very much.
“This business delegation is a testimony that India is taking Zimbabwe’s economy very seriously, and we want to play a very crucial role here, which we have been doing so far. We just want to give a new impetus to it, and we understand that Zimbabwe’s requirement is in infrastructure, and in some specific sectors and this delegation has been designed accordingly.”
The Minister of Industry and Commerce, Honourable Mangaliso Ndlovu is equally excited about the proposed investments.
“We have just attended a meeting that was convened by the Vice President following his visit to India in August, and the business delegation has already followed, and they have expressed an interest in investing in a number of sectors in our economy.
“I am happy to say that most of the investment proposals that have been highlighted today dovetail a lot with the priorities from most of our ministries as we journey towards our Vision 2030.
“Some of the areas of interest include agro-processing, also the manufacture of cold chain, especially for our agro-processing to reduce post-harvest losses. There is a lot of interest in pharmaceutical manufacturing, a lot of interest, again, in agriculture equipment, among others.
“So, we have discussed and we believe that it is very important that we actualise these discussions. They are willing to partner with local companies, they are willing to engage in massive skills transfer, and more importantly, they are willing to do local assembly so that we also capacitate our own,” said Minister Ndlovu.
“We believe as a government that being an agro-based economy, it is important that we upscale in our manufacture of agriculture equipment. We should be importing far less of these tractors and other implements, but more manufacturing them locally. And there is scope in the partnerships that we are likely to come up with to achieve that. So we are very keen.”
Through strategic partnerships, Zimbabwe seeks to harness India’s expertise in technology, infrastructure, and manufacturing to spur its development.
