Story by Owen Mandovha
ZIMBABWE is ready to participate at the Expo 2025 Osaka, which gets underway next month, with the government looking forward to tapping into the Japanese travel market.
It is now countdown to Expo 2025 OSAKA, the world’s largest business and trade event to be held in Japan from next month.
The expo, which kicks off on April 13, will see an estimated 28 million visitors going to Osaka throughout a six month period to October 13.
This Tuesday, the government engaged stakeholders, including those in the tourism and hospitality industry, on how the constituency can tap into the Japanese tourism industry.
“We rate Japan as a key travel market that we think is set to bolster our efforts to grow the tourism industry. Japanese people have for long endowed the majestic Victoria Falls and we hope that our participation at the Expo will definitely bring value to the industry,” president of the Tourism Business Council of Zimbabw, Mr Clive Chinwada said.
Foreign Affairs and International Trade Permanent Secretary, Ambassador Albert Chimbindi said Zimbabwe’s participation at this global stage reinforces its economy diplomacy policy, while the Japanese Embassy is looking ahead to provide an opportunity to elevate trade ties.
“The Expo Osaka 2025 dovetails with the government’s policy to enhance its economic diplomacy thrust, reinforce business ties and sell opportunities from Zimbabwe to increase trade,” Ambassador Chimbindi said.
“Japan and Zimbabwe are two countries that have long standing relations and in Japan, Zimbabwe has the opportunity to learn what the country can provide and sell opportunities in our country,” Head of Mission for the Japanese Embassy, His Excellency Hiroyuki Kumagai said.
Expo 2025 Osaka Commissioner General Allan Majuru revealed that they are ready to showcase Zimbabwe just over a month before the event begins.
“At the moment we are seized with creating content for showcasing at the Expo and everything is in place to ensure that we maximise our full participation at this event and, already we have a team that is already there,” he said.
Zimbabwe will participate under the theme: ‘Beyond Limits,’ underpinning the country’s resilience in pursuit of its vision to become an upper middle income society by 2030.
At the event, students from Harare Institute of Technology were honoured for winning the competition to design Zimbabwe Pavilion Website and web application.
