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Michael Tome Business Reporter
THE newly appointed Minister of Industry and Commerce Dr Sithembiso Nyoni has pledged to work with the local private sector to come up with sound policies in a bid to resuscitate the industry while sustaining the gains made during the last five years.
Dr Nyoni was addressing captains of industry at a stakeholder interface breakfast meeting held in Harare yesterday.
The minister pledged that during her tenure, she would strive to provide an enabling policy and regulatory framework that would enhance the ease of doing business.
She immediately invited the private sector to make submissions in coming up with the new Zimbabwe National Industrial Development Policy (ZNIDP), which the Government is already working on.
“As your newly appointed Minister of Industry and Commerce, my primary responsibility is to promote the development of vibrant, sustainable, and globally competitive industrial and commercial enterprises. I firmly believe that together, we can create an environment that nurtures innovation, fosters growth, and facilitates the success of our businesses.
“It is crucial to acknowledge that our industrial policy, the ZNDP is coming to an end in December and your collaboration in the development and implementation of the successor policy is very critical.
“This policy is anchored on Vision 2030 and the National Development Strategy (NDS1, 2021-2025). It focuses on implementing policies that foster high, inclusive, broad-based, and sustainable economic growth, as well as socioeconomic transformation and development.
The policy, to run between 2024 and 2030 seeks to grow the sector by at least 2 percent per year and also targets annual growth in investments, exports of manufactured exports, and employment by 3, 10, and 20 percent respectively.
It would be underpinned by productivity improvement, transformation, and competitiveness.
Taking advantage of the strong linkages and interdependences between manufacturing and the agricultural sectors, a special focus would be on value chain development in areas such as fertilizer, soya, cotton, dairy, sugar, leather, pharmaceutical, bus and truck, engineering iron and steel and plastic waste value chains–considered low-hanging fruits for a structurally transforming economy.
Measures would be put in place to encourage growth in emerging industries that adopt the latest technology, especially for the innovation and new focus areas of lithium value addition, solar energy, recycled waste, and enhanced value addition in the agro-processing area among others.
“I therefore invite your contributions and submissions in coming up with the new Zimbabwe National Industrial Development Policy. We would like to consolidate the gains achieved so far and come up with strategies and initiatives that foster industrial development and contribute to the achievement of sustainable and inclusive growth,” said Minister Nyoni.
She urged the business community to embrace digital technologies and adopt digital innovation to enhance productivity.
“Industry 4.0 is upon us. Government will always support the private sector in their retooling and upgrading of plant and machinery.”
Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) president Kurai Matsheza implored Minister Nyoni to immediately cross-examine some of the factors impeding the growth of the industry.
“Minister you are taking over a sector that has not been growing over some time. The industry used to contribute around 20–25 percent to the gross domestic product but now stands at just over 11 percent.
“Mining has been growing, agriculture has been growing it is now at about 13 percent, so you are taking over a sector that has been in decline and we need to interrogate why, “said Mr Matsheza.
Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) president, Mr Mike Kamungeremu said: “Businesses feel that smooth transmission of information between the Ministry and private sector will assist in keeping them within the loop and fully aware of any vital issues and changes by the Government.
“Communication is key in fostering a productive relationship between the business community and government,” said Mr Kamungeremu.
Retailers Association of Zimbabwe (RAZ) representative Mr Themba Ndebele urged the Government to restore duty on some basic commodities to protect local companies from competition from imported products.
“Zimbabwe has the largest informal retail and distribution sector and that is not sustainable. What we have now is a lot of imported manufactured products (coming into the country) without paying duty,” said Mr Ndebele.
Confederation of Zimbabwe Retailers (CZR) president, Mr Denford Mutashu said, “Government should move to come up with a formalization strategy (as) it is losing a lot of revenue because of many businesses are not registering (and not) remitting to the fiscus.”
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