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Oliver Kazunga Senior Business Reporter
A NEW tracking system will be set up to monitor the activities of investors to ensure they stick to their core business, a senior official has said. Economic Planning and Investment Promotion Ministry permanent secretary, Desire Sibanda, said the Zimbabwe Investment Authority (ZIA) would champion the information technology-based investor tracking system that would assist in evaluating progress in the implementation of economic projects.
He said the initiative had been in the pipeline for some time but hit a snag due to lack of funding. “The ministry (Economic Planning and Investment Promotion) is concerned that there has been very little investment tracking. This has resulted in investors diverting from their core business, shortchanging the country of a whole lot of benefits from their investment,” said Sibanda while addressing a joint sensitisation workshop for parliamentarians and business executives in Bulawayo on Friday.
The meeting drew members of Parliamentary portfolio committees on industry and commerce, youth, indigenisation and economic empowerment, foreign affairs, and finance and economic development. Sibanda said lack of co-ordinated promotion of foreign direct investment had caused the country to lose critical investment.
Citing the latest World Investment Report, Sibanda said Zimbabwe only recorded $545 million in FDI last year, which was a 36 percent increase from the $400 million registered in 2013. “In short there has been an increase but the increase isn’t enough. We need to do more. For example, South Africa received the highest amount of FDI in the region as well as on the continent recording FDI inflows of $5.7 billion, Mozambique $4.9 billion and Zambia $2.4 billion,” he said.
Sibanda said investors expected a recipient country to guarantee them minimum rights and protection such as non-discrimination, security of investment, repatriation of capital and earnings, and alternative dispute settlement mechanisms.
“Many private investors want to have the option of utilising alternative dispute settlement mechanisms to resolve their disputes with both private companies and the government.
“This is particularly true for foreign investors in developing or transitioning countries,” he said. Sibanda said in order to attract investors into the country, it was important to implement the One-Stop Shop centre at ZIA. He, however, said the concept was still to be effective due to lack of harmonisation of various laws governing investment.
Lack of detailed appreciation of the role of ZIA among the local and international business community, inability of other agencies to abide by the five-day working period, and designated one stop shop officers to issues licences or permits, are some of the persistent bottlenecks.
Sibanda said as part of efforts to attract investments, many countries sign Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements with their investing countries. He said Zimbabwe was signatory to a number of BIPPAs with countries such as China and Germany.
“These (BIPPAs) provide guarantees to protection of foreign investment. They usually contain clauses for dispute settlement, expropriation and compensation, favourable treatment, property rights, transfer of payments, among others which give confidence of security to foreign investors,” he said.
Online Reporter