PM discourages Japanese investors

Speaking at the Zimbabwe Investment Conference in Japan yesterday, Mr Tsvangirai said Zimbabwe has many investment opportunities in mining, agriculture, tourism and manufacturing.
“Our quest to attract investment has been marred by our bad politics and a poorly crafted empowerment law which has largely scared away investors,” he said.
“It is the implementation that has been chaotic, even though the law insists on ceding for value and mutual discussions as a precondition.
“We have successfully managed to mitigate the excesses of this law, but because we are an uneasy coalition, the ultimate answer will lie in a free and fair election as a precondition for a legitimate government in Zimbabwe.”
PM Tsvangirai said “our uneasy coalition has shown what bad politics can do to prospects of investment and prosperity”.
PM Tsvangirai is on record opposing the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act meant to empower the majority.
The Act stipulates that foreign companies with a value of US$500 000 and above should cede 51 percent of shares to locals.
PM Tsvangirai said Japanese investors were still welcome in Zimbabwe to deepen economic relations on a win-win basis.
“We are the new place to do business, not as junior partners, but in mutually beneficial partnerships that benefit the people of our two countries,” he said.
“While we have been dogged by bad politics, the star status of Zimbabwe as a natural destination for investment is a matter of public record — a country with abundant skills and a hospitable and hard-working people — that yearns for the best for itself and future generations.”
PM Tsvangirai said there was a renewed business confidence in the country despite “the political problems still dogging us”.  He said Africa was the new frontier for investment and business.
“I have often said that the story of the new Zimbabwe we are building is the story of rehabilitation and recapitalisation, and there are many opportunities in that new thrust and new narrative,” said PM Tsvangirai.
“It is true that Zimbabwe is a country where different realities exist side by side, but it is also true that we remain a country of hope both in terms of growth and investment.”
PM Tsvangirai said there were signs of hope for Zimbabwe.
But the challenge for the country, as in many African countries, he said, “remains poor infrastructure such as road networks, mixed messages over empowerment laws that now cut across the whole of Africa as well as poor liquidity and limited fiscal space”.
PM Tsvangirai said his experience in Government had shown that peace is a key factor for investment.
Zimbabwe is a country of opportunity and growth, but this must be done through clean investments which benefit the ordinary citizen, he said.