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Herald Reporter
Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa yesterday had a courtesy call from the Ambassador of Norway, Ms Astrid Emilie Helle, where they discussed a number of issues, including media reforms that have taken place since 2018 and the opportunities that can be taken to strengthen relations.
Norway is a traditional friend of Zimbabwe from the days of the liberation struggle, where it supported the liberation war fighters with clothes and other materials.
Minister Mutsvangwa said President Mnangagwa was committed to seeing citizens enjoy deep and quality press freedoms for the benefit of democratic discourse in Zimbabwe.
Speaking after the engagement, Minister Mutsvangwa said it was “really wonderful” meeting Ambassador Helle, who is based in Pretoria, South Africa, but is also accredited to Zimbabwe.
“We have got excellent relations between our two countries, that is Norway and Zimbabwe,” she said.
“Norway has been actually carrying out a number of projects in Zimbabwe, public and private programmes.
“They have been there, very actively involved in the empowerment of women, empowerment of youth and also in many other programmes which involve making sure that the lives of the people of this country are uplifted.”
Minister Mutsvangwa said in the Second Republic, a number of new developments had been noted in the media sector and there was a commitment to ensure the sector continued to grow.
“There has been a number of reforms which have been done since the Second Republic and we talked about how we have repealed AIPPA (the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act) and came up with very progressive Acts like the Zimbabwe Media Commission, the Freedom of Information Act, and how we are trying as a Ministry to make sure that we bring everyone on board,” she said.
“We don’t want to leave anybody behind. We have also licensed commercial televisions, six of them, we have also licensed community radio stations, making sure that we also cater for everybody over the corners of our 10 provinces. This is all being done in the spirit of inclusiveness and devolution.”
Ambassador Helle said: “I am very honoured and glad to have been able to meet today (yesterday) with the Honourable Minister of Information, who is not only having a very important role in her capacity in the Government of Zimbabwe, but also has a very high reputation as a freedom fighter and as a woman who helps all the women in this country from civil society, economic life and political life.
“So, we are delighted to see which opportunities we can have to strengthen the links between Norway and Zimbabwe, both when it comes to political issues, economic issues and also cooperate between our civil societies.”
Norway ranks high in the United Nations National Happiness Index, with the major contributory factor being its top ranking in gender parity with its women discharging unfettered role in the full gamut of socio-economic activities.
This saw the two exchanging notes on how to improve women folk across all endeavours.
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