FDI lobby intensifies

of the Euro Money investment conference, beginning in Harare tomorrow.
President Mugabe is expected to officially open the event while the Prime Minister, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai, and his deputy Professor Arthur Mutambara are also scheduled to address the delegates.
Euro Money is an international business and financial publisher established in 1969 to profile the re-emergence of the international capital markets.
The two-day conference will be held at the Harare International Conference Centre and comes as the country seeks to raise FDI this year to at least 14 percent of its Gross Domestic Product.
Finance Minister Tendai Biti and Economic Planning and Investment Promotion Minister Tapiwa Mashakada disclosed this at a joint Press briefing in Harare last Friday.
They said Euro Money was a highly respected organiser of international investment conferences. Zimbabwe needed its firm approval as a prime destination for investment in Africa and the world.
The conference will cover topics such as prospering in a challenging environment and also profile investment opportunities in such sectors as agri-business, tourism, telecomms, banking and capital markets, and mining.
It would also zero in on FDI and indigenisation, infrastructure, public-private partnerships and power and energy.
Minister Biti said Government was in critical need of FDI as it has been dependent on money from the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority to fund its programmes.
But this has seriously affected national programmes and capital projects as the economy started on a bad footing with limited revenue coming from Zimra.
Minister Biti said normally, governments depended on such major sources of funding as own resources, donor support, capacity to borrow and FDI. But Zimbabwe has been relying only on limited revenue from Zimra.
As a result of this, Minister Biti announced a mere US$2,7 billion National Budget for the current year, most of it destined for consumptive projects.
“The Ministry of Finance will host an investment conference from March 8-9 2011, which will be opened by President Mugabe and be addressed by Prime Minister Tsvangirai and DPM Mutambara,” he said.
The country could not borrow from multi-lateral institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, as it was in arrears. Zimbabwe was saddled with a US$7.1 billion nominal debt, he said.
Zimbabwe has not been able to obtain donor funding as evidenced in 2009 after Minister Biti provided for a US$810 million Vote of Credit, but received nothing.
Economic Planning Minister Tapiwa Mashakada said the two-day conference would provide a platform to rebrand Zimbabwe’s battered image.
“The two-day conference will enable us to rebrand Zimbabwe as its image suffered over the years. We have to spruce up the image,” he said.
Minister Mashakada said Euro Money could help rebuild Zimbabwe’s image as they were respected by institutional investors and private equity funds.
He said to demonstrate its commitment to attracting FDI the Government had set up the one-stop shop investment centre to deal with a myriad of issues that were scaring away the much-needed investment.
Minister Mashakada said the country would continue to market itself to international investors while addressing issues that remained of concern to them.
Minister Biti said the Euro Money conference would provide a platform for Zimbabwe to tell the world its downside and upside. But he said Zimbabwe’s objective attractiveness far outweighed any threats.
He said there were opportunities in such sectors as agriculture, ICT, mining, manufacturing, all complemented by incomparable infrastructure in Africa (outside SA), excellent climate and a high literacy rate.
Euro Money said the event was a “must-attend” for those interested in opportunities in Zimbabwe, which has made significant progress in the last two years in restoring economic stability after 10 years of instability.
Speakers will include the presidents of the African Development Bank and African Export and Import Bank, Mr Donald Kaberuka and Mr Jean-Louis Ekra, respectively.
Speakers from the Government, local and international investors would set the scene for the country’s economic direction in the next 12 months.