Govt notes US re-engagement progress

Nqobile Tshili, Chronicle Reporter
GOVERNMENT has said it will continue to engage the United States of America to remove sanctions on Zimbabwe and was encouraged by American companies doing business with Zimbabwe.

Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Dr Sibusiso Moyo told the National Assembly last week that sanctions are outdated and do not serve any purpose as they are worsening lives of ordinary Zimbabweans.

He said being in conversation with Americans and Europeans is proof of commitment towards mending relations.

Minister Moyo was responding to Norton legislator Mr Temba Mliswa who had asked why Government insists on re-engaging countries that imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe despite their unwillingness to change their attitude towards the country.

“Let me say that the re-engagement process which has been on for some time has seen quite a lot of success particularly within Europe and even within the Americans and I have always said before, we did not use to have any conversations with even the Americans but now we have got conversations and in these conversations, we are identifying areas of interest and we still have certain areas of divergence,” he said.

Dr Moyo said America is now supporting the country’s agriculture sector.

“You can actually see the trade which is now developing even between the US and Zimbabwe through mechanisation support of the agricultural sector. Now, we are also seeing quite a lot of diasporans coming through proposing and offering to come into the agricultural sector so that they can participate in the horticulture recovery and the overall agriculture recovery plan,” said Dr Moyo.

He said Government was also targeting to be part of America’s African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) market.

Minister Moyo said sanctions were affecting the country’s international trade risk profile and therefore Government wants them gone to attract new investors.

“Nationally, they look at what exactly you have. You have this tag which is called sanctions over you and therefore the risk profile of Zimbabwe goes up, the cost of money also goes up. It is in the interest of Zimbabwe to be part of the family of nations in terms of trade and investments,” he said. — @nqotshili