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Mukudzei Chingwere, Herald Reporter
An Indian delegation with cross-cutting economic interests is expected in the country on Monday to scout for business opportunities, the Asian country’s Ambassador to Zimbabwe Bramha Kumar, has said.
He said this after paying a courtesy call on Vice President Dr Constantino Chiwenga at Munhumutapa Offices yesterday.
This reciprocal visit is a follow-up to VP Chiwenga’s trip, where he led a multi-sectoral Zimbabwean delegation to explore investment opportunities and strengthen bilateral ties.
The VP’s delegation goals included attracting more investors, growing exports into India’s massive market of 1,4 billion people, and boosting tourist arrivals.
During the visit in August, Indian captains of industry, fund managers, and entrepreneurs took a huge interest in Zimbabwe.
The visit by the Indian business delegation comes at a time when the Asian economic behemoth and the world’s fifth-largest economy is angling to ramp up its investment foothold in the country and Africa at large.
India is already one of the highest investment source markets for Zimbabwe with interests in the pharmaceutical industry, but there is huge scope to further widen this into other sectors of the economy.
Vice President Dr Constantino Chiwenga welcomes Indian Foreign Service (IFS) Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Bramha Kumar during a courtesy call at Munhumutapa offices in Harare yesterday.- Picture: Charles Muchakagara.
Speaking to journalists after meeting VP Chiwenga, Ambassador Kumar said the expected delegation has interests in energy, infrastructure development, railway construction and rehabilitation, healthcare, pharmaceutical and mining.
“It (the meeting) was basically to touch base on bilateral relations and what we can do to further push them up on an upward trajectory,” said Ambassador Kumar.
“My focus here is to have the bilateral trade enhanced, and we are having a business delegation coming from India on Monday and they will meet with their counterparts here in Zimbabwe.
“We also talked about enhancing people-to-people contacts and we are already extending that with 275 scholarship slots to Zimbabwean students through the Indian technical and economic cooperation programme which is an example of the South-to-South cooperation,” he said.
VP Chiwenga also spoke about the strong bilateral relations that exist between the two countries which he feels must be reflective of improved economic cooperation.
“I agree with him (VP Chiwenga) that we have to enhance our economic cooperation, we are also working on enhancing technical cooperation with Zimbabwe,” said Ambassador Kumar.
Ambassador Kumar said they are also seeking to strengthen relations through bilateral trade and investments.
Vice President Dr Constantino Chiwenga recieves a token of appreciation from Indian Foreign Service (IFS) Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Bramha Kumar during a courtesy call at Munhumutapa offices in Harare yesterday.- Picture: Charles Muchakagara.
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