admin
President Robert Mugabe rounded up his trip to Russia yesterday. On Saturday, he witnessed a military parade celebrating Moscow’s victory over Nazists in 1945, met his host, President Vladimir Putin on Sunday and discussed details of Russian investment in Zimbabwe yesterday. Russia is one of the world’s strongest nations politically and economically. Russia is a member of the emerging bloc of economic powers together with Brazil, India, China and South Africa. In military terms, it is probably the only country that has the capacity to refuse to be cowed by America.
Zimbabwe-Russia diplomatic relations are excellent, dating back to the liberation struggle when the former Soviet Union trained nationalists and armed them. That has generally continued after independence. Zimbabwe has an embassy in Russia and Moscow is similarly represented in Harare. The highlight of the post-independence diplomatic relations between the two countries occurred in July 2008 when Russia and China vetoed a draft UN resolution that sought more intrusive western action in Zimbabwe.
There are social and cultural relations too, with many Zimbabweans learning in Moscow on Russian scholarships. However, more needs to be done to grow them.
Like China before 2000, Zimbabwe’s relations with Russia are weak economically. An October 2012 report said trade between Russia and Zimbabwe had increased from $1,5 million in 2009 to $5,5 million in 2011. Russian investments in two mines in Manicaland and Midlands stand out.
This is not good enough given the strong diplomatic and political ties between the two countries. It is in this context that we applaud efforts by President Mugabe to take the opportunity of his visit to engage President Putin and businesspeople in that country to expedite work on the single largest investment in post independence Zimbabwe, the $4 billion Darwendale platinum joint venture deal signed in September.
Zimbabweans regard this proposed project very highly as it should breathe life into the economy by creating jobs, boosting exports and transforming the community around the mine. Indeed, work started recently but President Mugabe’s meeting with Russian companies involved in the financing of the mega project yesterday is expected to add impetus to the investment.
President Putin invited President Mugabe to appoint a special envoy to specifically steer trade agreements and overall economic partnerships between his country and Zimbabwe. The Russian leader also instructed his Trade Minister, Denis Manturov to be active in that regard. The appointment of the envoy, which we hope would be done as soon as possible, should accelerate the implementation of the Darwendale project and others to be negotiated in future.
Zimbabwe is a small country that is endowed with massive mineral resources and is pursuing policies to assert her political and economic independence, a strategic direction that Europe and America are uncomfortable with. They imposed illegal sanctions on Zimbabwe and almost got the UN resolution in July 2008 to hide their sinister agenda to complete their regime change designs. Russia and China’s double veto stopped them.
On Sunday, President Mugabe got a significant reassurance from President Putin that Russia will continue supporting Harare at the UN Security Council. A small country like Zimbabwe which pursues sovereign policies has to have that sure support at the highest level. Without that, Europe and America can do what they did on Libya, Egypt, Tunisia and what they almost did on Syria.
Speaking for Africa as well as Zimbabwe, President Mugabe told his Russian counterpart:
“We later had to lead our own fight against British imperialism and against the apartheid system in South Africa. We needed support to reach our goals, and the support we received from the Soviet Union and China made a big contribution to helping us achieve our liberation. When our country celebrated its independence in 1980, we paid tribute to the support of the Soviet Union and China, who helped us in our liberation.
“The Soviet Union broke up, it is true, but Russia has continued. Russia, which was the core of the Soviet Union, has stood firm against the pressure from the United States and Europe, which have imposed sanctions on your country. We in our time also fought British imperialism and we had to take our land back from the British farmers. When we were successful in this effort, the United States, Europe and Britain imposed sanctions on us. You are fighting sanctions now, and so are we. The United States forms the summit of this imperialist pyramid, followed by Europe. For this reason, we must work together.”
The President’s trip, though made in his capacity as African Union chairman, was therefore a fruitful one for Zimbabwe. It served to deepen the already strong Russia-Zimbabwe diplomatic relations and went a step further in nurturing their economic ties.
Online Reporter