Online Reporter
Zimbabwe secured US$1,4 billion investment commitments in the first quarter of this year, a confirmation of the positive impact of the Government’s engagement and re-engagement policy. Government has declared that it is a friend to all and enemy to none hence many countries are ready to do business with Zimbabwe.
The Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency (Zida) said during the first quarter, it identified and engaged 162 potential investors resulting in the country securing US$1,4 billion investment commitments. Zida said the highest level of interest came from local asset managers, development finance institutions and investment funds. It said Energy and infrastructure dominated investment leads as renewable energy recorded eight leads while infrastructure had seven.
Agriculture and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) had six leads each while manufacturing and tourism had three and one respectively. Zida said the distribution of interest points to growing confidence in sectors linked to sustainable growth, industrialisation and technological transformation. The country is receiving many business delegations from across the globe and some of these visitors are making investment commitments.
In February this year, a high-powered delegation of more than 30 leading business executives from Romania and Hungary visited the country. The visit followed a target destination marketing and economic diplomacy campaign spearheaded by Zimbabwe’s Embassy in Berlin, Germany. The head of delegation and also president of Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Romania Mr Vornic Sorin said the delegation’s mission was about rebuilding long-standing relations and translating goodwill into tangible economic co-operation.
“We came here with a strong delegation of 35 people, who want to discover Zimbabwe because for a long time there was no big connection between us, though we have been friends for a long time,” he said.
Mr Sorin said the visit was meant to rekindle economic co-operation between Romania and Zimbabwe. The delegation, Mr Sorin said, was made up of business executives representing major companies in Romania and the objective was to strengthen connections between these businessmen and local businessmen.
He credited Zimbabwe’s diplomatic outreach in Europe for marketing Zimbabwe as an investment destination of choice and facilitating the visit. “We chose Zimbabwe because we have information from your Embassy in Berlin, Germany,” said Mr Sorin.
What Mr Sorin said about the Zimbabwean Embassy in Berlin, Germany is a confirmation that our ambassadors who are representing us in the different countries across the globe, have taken heed of President Mnangagwa’s call for them to transform Zimbabwe’s diplomatic missions into strategic economic hubs that drive trade, investment, tourism and innovation.
President Mnangagwa has said the country’s embassies must move beyond traditional diplomacy to play a proactive role in advancing national development. “Missions should function as strategic economic hubs that advance trade, investment, tourism and innovation while defending our sovereignty and projecting a positive image of the country,” said President Mnangagwa.
We want to say thumbs up to our Ambassadors and urge them to continue marketing Zimbabwe as an investment destination of choice. Government on its part should continue to improve the ease of doing business environment so that many of these business executives visiting the country are attracted to invest in the different sectors of the economy.
