Online Reporter
Gibson Nyikadzino
Zimpapers Politics Hub
THE European union (EU) has expressed interest in Zimbabwe’s Open for Business policy as a key governance cornerstone essential for investors to ascertain the reliability of the country’s business environment, Ambassador Katrin Hagemann has said.
Ambassador Hagemann, the Head of the EU Delegation to Zimbabwe, said the country’s wish to be open for business and create more growth for the benefit of everyone is what the EU stands for.
Observing this strong alignment of vision, she said it will lead to a convergence of ideas between the two partners.
“The Government’s wish to be open for business and create more growth for the country, which will benefit everybody, is something we are interested in because good governance is something that we stand for. We are seeing, for example, that in some of the priorities that the Government has, we are seeing convergence on some of the issues around for good governance, which is very important for any investor to have reliability,” Ambassador Hagemann said.
She said Zimbabwe and the EU did not engage in real dialogue between 2008 and 2014, because the EU and its member states mostly engaged with civil society. The re-establishment of formal dialogue under the framework of the Cotonou Agreement has centered on fostering political, economic and development cooperation.
“We are seeing in some areas convergence, in other areas as good friends we also in each other’s direction to tell each other, sometimes also hard truths. That is what good friends do.
“I look forward to really improving these relations and having a trustful relationship with all Zimbabweans. I would like to see this relationship to be deepened and have more trust in both directions. That is where the dialogue also comes in, the more we talk, the more we can build up trust.
“We will continue to also sometimes have difficult messages but I think that is something which we are. We are a predictable and reliable partner,” she added.
Relations between Zimbabwe and the EU are taking a new trajectory following years of silence and adversity. The two parties currently have improved trade exchanges, people-to-people cooperation and are looking into areas of more cooperation, especially in the mining sector.
