Online Reporter
DESPITE the retreat by the United States over the past year from the global economy and the international agencies that have done so much to push this forward and overcome the mistakes of the past, almost every other country and many American private business corporations are interested in keeping up the reformist agenda.
A new consensus is being created that the rest of us can continue building, and do not have to line up in the darkness.
Zimbabwe is becoming a major African voice in this building up process, having recently concluded a year as SADC chair and is about to chair Comesa, the largest of the African free trade areas and the biggest building block of the African Continental Free Trade Area.
In addition, a lot of countries inside and outside Africa are happy to see Zimbabwe assume, for two years, one of the 10 non-permanent seats on the UN Security Council and the sort of support we have built up should not just meet the requirement of two thirds of members voting for us, but should do so with a healthy margin to spare.
All of this will give Zimbabwe a strong voice for the smaller countries as we all work out how to adapt to the new circumstances and make sure we can present the vital united front that we will need if the global economy is to grow and the global order is to be maintained and expanded to become ever more useful.
Before the Second Republic, Zimbabwe was not that keen to use the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, early every year.
That changed dramatically when President Mnangagwa was sworn in and insisted that Zimbabwe must use every avenue to push its own development agenda and support others in similar circumstances to do the same.
Usually, as was the case this year, we can use ministers to represent us in seeking better trade, better investment and other solutions to drive our business sectors forward.
This means we need to be there, need to be practical and need to seek out the major corporations as well as development agencies.
Another important point is that we are not just keen on expanding, but also to gain maximum value from what we produce, making sure that if a major customer or potential customer wants a product of such and such specifications, we produce that product.
This is coming to the fore with the tobacco trade.
Zimbabwe is ramping up production to 500 million kg, and this means we can no longer just dump huge quantities into world markets, but need to be able to talk to major consumers, to ensure that our farmers get markets, and get good prices for what they produce.
So among other contacts, Zimbabwe was using Davos to build up contact with Phillip Morris International, to see if the top buyer was willing to buy direct, cutting out middlemen, and so giving a better deal to farmers and processors.
Of course, at this sort of level, Phillip Morris does not want to hear sob stories.
That our production drops only modestly in a bad drought year, and that the Government and farmers are keen irrigators, means that the huge company can feel reasonably confident of getting supplies every year if it chooses to go the direct route.
Other talks in Davos were making contact with more potential investors, building up our lists of contacts and seeing how we can tailor investment products to meet the expectations of both the foreign investor and the Zimbabwean host.
An agreement needs to benefit everyone if it is to survive the years of potential turmoil.
One sided deals are not much use to anyone.
At the same time, many global foundations and agencies are stepping away from the decisions by the US not to participate much in global economic building, except on its own terms, and are working actively with everyone else to see what should and can be done.
We do not have to abandon what we have spent 80 years building since the Second World War when some serious conscious decisions were made that “never again” would we allow this sort of disaster.
So our ministerial team was active on the sidelines, helping to cement the consensus that already exists and seeing what sort of next steps can be taken.
We do not have to pretend that we can return to the old 80-year consensus, but new combinations, new formulas and new hopes can be activated for our own new world.
