Online Reporter
Never before has our country, arguably, ever had such a weighty week.
It all started with Independence Day and Good Friday last week, two very significant moments on the national calendar. We rejoiced celebrating the 45th Independence Day while remembering the suffering that Christ went through on a day Christendom commemorates his crucifixion.
The Easter Holiday ends today as the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) begins. The Blue Sapphire edition of the ZITF brings to Bulawayo a record number of exhibitors who have occupied so much space that organisers of the exposition have had to secure extra space to accommodate more exhibition stands. It will run under the theme: “Industrialisation: Crafting an Integrated Economic Landscape,” until Saturday.
This is probably the first ZITF edition to run for six days, not the traditional five, likely an indication of the growing popularity of the show. Exhibitors are from Afghanistan, Angola, Austria, Belarus, Botswana, Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Rwanda, South Africa, Sweden, Tanzania, the UK, USA, UAE, Zambia, and the EU Delegation.
To get the ball rolling this evening is an exhibitors B2B networking cocktail being hosted by the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries. Highlights for tomorrow include the Rural Industrialisation Indaba, Buyers’ Speed Networking, Zimbabwe-India Business Session, the ZITF Innovators’ Forum and Hackathon and the ZITF welcome cocktail which the organisers are putting together jointly with the British Embassy.
Wednesday will feature the traditional ZITF International Business Conference. Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga will be the top speaker there. On the same day will be an innovators forum and the Research for Industrialisation and Economic Recovery Conference. On Thursday there will be the Connect Africa Symposium. Vice-President Kembo Mohadi will be the guest speaker there. On the same day will be the Zimbabwe-Mozambique Trade and Investment Roundtable.
Everything will peak on Friday when Mozambican President, Daniel Chapo, officially opens this year’s show and hands out prizes to excelling exhibitors.
We welcome all visitors to Bulawayo, those who are coming from other parts of our country and those from the continent and beyond. We hope they will successfully showcase their products and services, and attract much business and valuable contacts. There will be some visitors who will not exhibit anything, but will be here to scout for opportunities. We welcome them too and hope the ZITF will bring them the business they came here for.
To visitors from our sisterly neighbour, Mozambique, the ZITF Company must be honoured to have President Chapo as their chief guest. President Chapo and his country must feel honoured as well through the Thursday roundtable which will specifically focus on the economic ties between our two countries. Relations between our two countries are as old as time itself. We are one people, just made two by a boundary drawn by man in 1885.
We look forward to yet another successful showpiece which highlights the various trade and investment opportunities that our country offers. These opportunities must result in real trade and investment deals for our economy and economies that our visitors represent
