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THE European Union on Tuesday announced that it is removing all remaining sanctions against Zimbabwe related to travel bans and asset freezes.
The bloc said it remains constructively engaged with Zimbabwe and looks forward to deepening bilateral relations across a broad range of areas of mutual interest including trade and investment.
Relations between Zimbabwe and the EU have improved significantly in recent years.
The EU has been part of broader international efforts supporting Zimbabwe’s economic reform and re-engagement agenda, including participation in dialogue platforms aimed at resolving Zimbabwe’s external debt and normalising relations with international financial institutions and creditors.
Last year, Zimbabwe and the EU marked a historic milestone with the launch of the inaugural EU-Zimbabwe Business Forum in Harare, a development which is now reshaping trade and investment dynamics between Zimbabwe and EU countries.
The three-day business forum, themed “Unlocking Trade and Investment under the Global Gateway Initiative,” attracted over 300 participants including business executives, investors, policymakers and entrepreneurs from across Zimbabwe and 12 EU Member States.
The then EU Ambassador to Zimbabwe Jobst von Kirchmann described the forum as the product of an ambitious vision conceived just a year before its launch.
“When we looked at the positive development of trade and investment with the EU over the last years, we felt that the time was ripe to bring EU companies to Zimbabwe,” he said.
Trade between Zimbabwe and the EU continues to grow and so is foreign direct investment driven largely by the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA).
The forum, jointly organised by the EU Delegation to Zimbabwe, the Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency (Zida), ZimTrade and the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) was focused on unlocking further commercial opportunities in key sectors including horticulture, agriculture and agro-processing, renewable energy and mining value chains. Cross-cutting enablers such as logistics, financial services and vocational skills development were also discussed.
More than 600 companies applied to participate but only 300 were confirmed due to space limitations.
Zimbabwe continues to record positives as a result of its engagement and re-engagement initiative that seeks to either establish bilateral relations or amend broken relations with all nations of the world guided by the mantra, “Friend to all and enemy to none”.
This has resulted in improved relations with many countries across the globe that now want to either do business with us or invest in the country taking advantage of the our abundant natural resources such as minerals.
Online Reporter