Govt defends investment conferences

Business Correspondent
ZIMBABWE will continue to convene investment conferences to woo Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) despite criticism that the events were mere talk shows that were not bearing fruit, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Economic Planning and Investment Promotion, Dr Desire Sibanda, has said.
Critics have said the country has held many investment indaba since 2009 with several business delegations coming into the country with no tangible results.

Among such events are the Deat Capital and London Stock Exchange road show to Zimbabwe in 2009, the Euromoney Zimbabwe Investment Conference, Diamond Conference, Zimbabwe Infrastructure Investment Conference and the recent Zimbabwe Investment Conference held in South Africa.

In an interview recently Dr Sibanda said their efforts to woo FDIs were not in vain and were bearing fruits.
“Investment in the country is actually going up and our target was to reach the 25 percent of the GDP and I think we on course,” he said.

“We have opened up our markets particularly to the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) markets.
“We have signed Bilateral Investments Protection and Promotion Agreements with India, South Africa and China which assures them security of investments.

“India is investing in Essar and all these are indications that our efforts are bearing results and we will continue because Zimbabwe is now the fastest growing economy in Africa and investors would like to invest in a growing economy and Zimbabwe is one,” said Dr Sibanda.

He said there was stiff competition for investors and there was a need to woo them before they were taken by rivals.
“We have these investment conferences to attract FDIs. We should also be aware that there is competition for investment as the investors can go anywhere like Zambia or Malawi markets.

“So we need to get the investors before they invest elsewhere. We believe a lot is actually happening and the country is poised for economic growth,” said Dr Sibanda.