Story by Bruce Chahwanda
THE Zimbabwe-United Arab Emirates Business Forum ended this Wednesday amid indications that local firms will generate business worth millions of dollars through the supply of horticultural and citrus products to the UAE.
Representatives of various companies toured Zimbabwean firms specialising in vegetables and fruits where they expressed willingness to widen product variety to satisfy their markets across the globe.
“We have a lot of business with Zimbabwean firms and we are still looking for a long-term relation where we can get huge volumes. We also want to make sure that we have suppliers throughout the year. Strawberry is not enough, we only have one supplier from Zimbabwe but we want to expand to citrus,” said Ali Gholami Vegetables and Fruits import purchase manager, Mr Shihad Aboobacker.
Team Zimbabwe described the engagements as fruitful.
ZimTrade operations director, Mr Similo Nkala said, “The UAE market is huge considering that they also cater for Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. This is a huge market which is promising to turn the fortunes of the local horticultural producers.”
“All the sectors represented had a fair share of the engagements. They met potential buyers and tourists, and good news is coming out of these engagements,” said Zimbabwe Ambassador to UAE, Ambassador Lovemore Mazemo.
Under the engagement and re-engagement agenda, Zimbabwe continues to attract investments in different sectors of the economy, while local companies are expanding their market share across the globe by securing new markets.
