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Farirai Machivenyika
Senior Reporter
Chinese companies have embraced the “Zimbabwe is open for business” mantra enunciated by President Mnangagwa and have already pledged to invest more than US$2 billion in the country’s economy, China’s new ambassador to Zimbabwe, Zhou Ding, said yesterday.
Mr Zhou said this after paying a courtesy call on Speaker of the National Assembly, Advocate Jacob Mudenda yesterday.
Chinese companies have invested in various sectors of the economy that include health, education, mining, energy, tourism and infrastructure development.
“I feel very proud that Chinese companies are very active in this country,” said Mr Zhou. “In the past few years Chinese companies have pledged to make more than US$2 billion worth of investments in this country and I think in the future Zimbabwe has the potential to be a well-developed country.
“Zimbabwe Government has adopted the mantra, “Zimbabwe is open for business,” and I think Chinese companies are taking up this opportunity to make their contributions. There are also other areas that we have been working closely like Chinese companies are investing in the agriculture and transportation sectors and all the projects have benefited the people here.”
Some of the projects that the Chinese have invested include the expansion of the Victoria Falls International Airport, expansion of the Kariba Hydro-electric Power Plant and the Hwange Thermal Power Station, the expansion of Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport, the new Parliament Building in Mt Hampden, a hospital in Mahusekwa and vaccines to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mr Zhou described as wonderful the discussions he had with Adv Mudenda and both expressed their satisfaction with the cordial bilateral relations existing between the two countries. “Tomorrow (today) we will be participating in the official commissioning of the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport and also several days ago I had the pleasure of participating at the commissioning of the Prospect Lithium Zimbabwe Company Plant which will have the capacity to process and produce half a million tonnes of lithium concentrate per year and I feel very proud of this achievement,” he said.
On the humanitarian front, Mr Zhou said China had helped Zimbabwe drill over 1 000 boreholes to provide clean water for local communities, including food assistance for the vulnerable.
“These are all symbols and testimony of our great friendship and as the new Chinese ambassador I look forward to working with the Zimbabwe Government and the National Assembly to strengthen our relations and I also mentioned to Mr Speaker that after the elections we also look to welcoming a delegation from the Zimbabwe Parliament to visit China and we also expect high level delegations from the Chinese Government and the National People’s Congress of China to visit the great country of Zimbabwe,” he said.
Online Reporter