daniel chigunwe
Kundai Marunya
Arts Correspondent
Brazilian Ambassador to Zimbabwe Vilmar Rogeiro Coutinho Jnr has pronounced culture as one of the key sectors he is willing to invest in to strengthen the relations between his country and Zimbabwe.
This comes at a time a group of local artists will be leaving for Brazil this week for a 14-day cultural exchange programme.
Addressing guests at the Brazilian Embassy in Harare during his country’s 201st National Day held last week, Mr Coutinho Jnr said culture was one of the key sectors he noted in his development agenda during his term in Zimbabwe.
“It is a little over a year since my wife and I have been her in Harare, having lived in South Africa before, when we even had an opportunity to briefly visit,” he said.
“We didn’t know much to anticipate of our lives here, and everything we expected proved pretty much accurate, but the one thing that came as an agreeable surprise to us was to realise how nice, helpful and kind the people of Zimbabwe are. This really makes us feel at home and warmly welcome in this country.
“It goes on to show how Zimbabweans are peaceful minded people which is a crucial factor for any country’s successful social and economic development. As a result of our very distant revolutions, contact between Zimbabwe and Brazil has been very limited, but the time has now come to change it.
“Thus for the past 12 months I have made several important contacts in this country from which I hope, several bilateral exchanges will be developed in several areas including agriculture, mining, trade and investments, renewable energies and cultural and education exchanges.”
Mr Coutinho Jnr said the agricultural sector already has bilateral relations that are ready to kick off in cotton production and cattle breeding while his country will benefit from local expertise in commercialisation of flowers and ornamental plants.
Brazil is a Portuguese speaking nation thus to strengthen relations and for easier communication, especially for locals willing to travel to the country, learning the language was important.
Mr Coutinho Jnr said he will work with other Portuguese speaking embassies to teach the language to locals.
“We would like to see more Zimbabwean students going to Brazil for their academic training as well as increasing the exchange between the academic and research institutions from the two countries,” he said.
“In this respect it is also our desire to develop efforts together with Portuguese speaking countries embassies here in Harare to promote the Portuguese language among Zimbabwean citizens.”
Present at the event were members of the diplomatic corp, Government officials that includes the director of arts in the Ministry of Sports Arts and Culture, National Gallery of Zimbabwe director Raphael Chikukwa, Hillock Arts Foundation director Raphael Jamu and rising visual artist Winston Mudumo.
Jamu, who is set to travel to Brazil with a group of artists from his foundation, said he will take on Mr Coutinho’s offer to work with art organisations to develop the sector.
“I’m happy that my organisation is one of the beneficiaries of HE Coutinho Jnr’s generosity as he is helping with both financial and logistical support for our travel to Brazil,” said Jamu.
“We will use our visit to formulate a meaningful cultural and artistic programme between our two nations.”
Online Reporter