Foster smart partnerships with Indian investors: IDC

boost foreign direct investment inflows into the country.
Speaking at the Zimbabwe-India Investment Conference last week, IDC projects development executive Mrs Rindirai Shoko said the corporation had a number of potential projects that it could explore with Indian partners.
“We are currently seeking partners in the assembling of low-cost vehicles to cater for the low- to middle-income earner. This class is currently relying on grey imports from Japan as the local light motor vehicle assemblers are currently not assembling entry level vehicles. India can come in on this front as they have proven brands such as the Tata and Mahindra which are among the world’s cheapest, yet reliable vehicles,” said Mrs Shoko.
She also highlighted other project opportunities that could be explored in sectors such as the textiles, real estate development, granite cutting and polishing, diamond cutting and polishing, chemical manufacturing, pharmaceuticals production and information and communication technologies.
“There is a huge scope for us to explore these projects. We have also partnered with an Indian investor in a huge investment in Chitungwiza, which is into extraction of edible oil seed.
“This is a viable project and is currently being expanded in order to automat the plant and also increase its capacity,” said Mrs Shoko.
In an interview on the sidelines of the conference, IDC spokesperson Mr Derek Sibanda said the corporation has a mandate to promote investment and economic co-operation at bilateral levels.
“The IDC identifies and develops industrial project opportunities into commercially viable ventures in partnership with local, regional and international investors, and technology and market access partners.
“We have joint venture partnerships that cut across the globe. The Japanese in the motor and transport sector, Italians in granite beneficiation, Iranians in the textile sector, Chinese in cement manufacturing, South Africans in aluminium and base mineral processing, the Indians in the extrusion of edible oilseeds and local partners as well,” he said.
Mr Sibanda added that the IDC will continue to court foreign investors to ensure that industrial development in Zimbabwe may be expedited. India is now a major foreign direct investor in the world, with a US$1,6 trillion economy and is a member of the BRICS economies together with Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa which are all deemed to be newly advanced economies.
The BRICS countries are considered to be a symbol of the shift in global economic power away from the developed economies towards the developing world.