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Zimbabwe needs to implement economic reforms aggressively for the country to achieve its economic development targets, Vice President Joice Mujuru said on Monday.
VP Mujuru was speaking at the launch of the Harare Metropolitan Province Business Desk which is aimed at mobilising support and investment for businesses operating in the capital.
The brainchild of Minister of State for Harare Province Miriam Chikukwa, the desk aims at promoting local and foreign investment, fostering industrial and commercial enterprises through public private partnerships to improve the socio-economic conditions of its inhabitants.
The Zimbabwean economy is largely moribund on the back of a decline in fresh investments and the absence of new capital which has resulted in a liquidity crunch.
VP Mujuru said the initiative was in line with Government objectives aimed at reforming the business environment to promote both local and foreign investment.
“Zimbabwe is part of the global village and has embraced globalisation. This has consequently come along with many challenges in our economy, new and complicated challenges with regards to implementation of reforms,” she said, in a speech read on her behalf by Senior Minister of State in the President’s Office Simon Khaya Moyo.
“This now means that we must take an aggressive approach to changing the status quo in order to realise meaningful economic revolution, reform and development.”
She encouraged the business desk to support the informal sector, which has become a critical part of the economy.
“We need to strengthen their efforts so that they can contribute meaningfully to employment creation and economic empowerment of our people,” she said.
VP Mujuru called on the business desk to assist in boosting peri-urban farming especially in the areas of horticulture and poultry through use of new technologies.
“Harare needs to lead in beneficiation of the agro products from our farms,” she said.
Chikukwa said the business desk was meant to ensure that stakeholders collaborated their efforts in ensuring that the capital city prospered.
“For Harare to succeed in developmental issues, we need to work together,” she said.
“People in Harare need food on their tables, it is no longer time for sloganeering.”
A key objective of the business desk is to conduct an audit of the city’s industrial, infrastructure, manpower and skills needs. – New Ziana,
Online Reporter