adminZimbabwe – the Indo-Zimbabwe Chamber of Commerce.
A bilateral chamber of commerce represents and furthers the interests of each of its member countries through the promotion and encouragement of bilateral trade and investment.
Mr Scindia made the proposals during the one-day Zimbabwe-India Business and Investment Conference held earlier this week.
“There is need to work towards the setting up of an Indo-Zimbabwe Chamber of Commerce, which will facilitate interaction between the business communities of both the countries and facilitate interaction between business and Government between the two countries,” he said.
Bilateral chambers of commerce exist as independent entities yet maintain a close relationship with their embassy and/or consulate, and as such play an integral role in strengthening bilateral relations and economic interactions.
The Indo-Zimbabwe Chamber of Commerce can play a critical role in boosting economic ties between the two countries, which participants at the conference agreed were still rather
constrained.
Speaking at the event, the Indian ambassador to Zimbabwe Jeitendra Tripathi said although economic ties between the two countries had improved steadily in recent year, there was a still a long way for them to reach their full potential.
Trade between Zimbabwe and India has improved from US$60 million recorded in 2009 to around US$125 million between 2010 to date.
There are a number of Indian public and private companies that are operating in the country.
Indian public sector companies namely Indian Railway Construction Company, Rail India Technical & Economic Services, Water and
Power Consultancy Services and Telecommunications India Ltd have a successful history of engagement with Zimbabwe and companies in maintain and upgrading infrastructure projects in the country.
Some Indian companies that have made investments in Zimbabwe include Surface Investment, which has set up a multi-seed edible oil producing plant near Harare capable of producing 100,000 bottles of edible oil daily with an investment of nearly US$15 million.
The project is a joint venture between Midex Global (Pvt) Ltd, Indore and Industrial Development Corporation of Zimbabwe.
Graffax Cotton (Pvt) Ltd – 100 percent foreign-owned Export Processing Zone company – has investments in the country of US$25 million.
The company has one cotton-ginning plant in Sanyati and Mount Darwin in Zimbabwe.
PM Electronics of India is exporting transformers to Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority.
The company has also signed a technology transfer agreement with Zesa Enterprises for a transformer manufacturing project in Harare.
There are also a number of smaller Indian businesses operating across the country.
The Indo-Zimbabwe Chamber of Commerce will typically provide useful business contacts, business services (including translation, interpreting and market research), events and networking opportunities, business courses and seminars and monitoring of new legislative proposals which might affect member’s interests.
Online Reporter