Chronicle EditorProsper Ndlovu, Business Editor
PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa meets the Diaspora business community in Pretoria, South Africa, tomorrow where he is scheduled to address Zimbabweans on economic revival efforts.
The gathering will be the first foreign engagement by Cde Mnangagwa as the Head of State after his takeover as President following the resignation of his predecessor, former President Robert Mugabe. The Zimbabwean Embassy in the neighbouring country is hosting the event in partnership with the Zimbabwe-South Africa (Zim-SA) Forum.
“His Excellency, Ambassador Isaac Moyo, invites all Zimbabweans doing business in South Africa and all business persons with interest in investing in Zimbabwe to a business meeting, which will be addressed by His Excellency, Cde E.D. Mnangagwa, the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe,” the Zimbabwean Embassy in South Africa said in a statement yesterday.
“The meeting is scheduled for Thursday, 21 December 2017 at the Zimbabwe Embassy, 798 Merton Avenue, Arcadia, Pretoria. You are requested to be seated by 1300hrs.”
Zimbabwe is on a path towards rejuvenating her economy and President Mnangagwa has stressed the importance of mending relations with the international community and involving the Diaspora community as part of a comprehensive package of reform measures towards a robust national re-building programme under the new political dispensation. The thrust has enthused domestic stakeholders and potential investors including the Diaspora community who have expressed readiness to tap into business opportunities across economic sectors.
The Zim-SA Forum president, Mr Anele Ndlovu, said his organisation was ready to host the President under the theme: “Zimbabwe shall rise, meet and greet luncheon, its business unusual”. The Zim-SA Forum was formed to provide a unique platform for Zimbabweans in the Diaspora to reposition themselves and contribute towards the national economic recovery trajectory and poverty eradication. This is in realisation of the massive exodus of high quality human capital to neighbouring states and beyond with estimates indicating that millions of Zimbabwean economic and non-economic migrants are living in exile. The forum underscores the need for empowerment of Diasporans as a key cornerstone for national economic recovery.
In June this year, President Mnangagwa, then Vice President, led a high powered ministerial and business delegation that attended a similar conference in Sandton, Johannesburg, to market investment opportunities in Zimbabwe anchored on the “ease of doing business”.
The gathering unlocked critical interests that saw the Diaspora community committing to invest over $1 billion in key projects. Among these is the $400 million National Railways of Zimbabwe revival package that is being finalised and the proposed bailout of the ailing Air Zimbabwe among others.
Tomorrow’s meeting is likely to increase impetus in the implementation of some of these projects as well as unlocking new potential.
Online Reporter