Online Reporter
Wallace Ruzvidzo
Herald Reporter
PRESIDENT Mnangagwa yesterday received letters of credence from incoming ambassadors from Angola, Indonesia and Denmark, with all three expressing their commitment to furthering relations.
Mr Baltazar Diogo Cristovao is the incoming Angolan top diplomat, Mr Arief Hidayat will represent Indonesia and Denmark’s new representative is Ms Karin Poulsen.
In an interview after presenting his credentials, Ambassador Cristovao said he will focus on improving cooperation between Harare and Luanda.
“As Angola and Zimbabwe, we can consider ourselves two giants in Africa and that is why I am here, to strengthen the friendship, the cooperation, the political and diplomatic aspect.
“We will strengthen a lot more, through cooperation and see aspects, political and economic, of our region and in the other domains as well. We have various areas where we are strong, fundamentally, agriculture, tourism and even in the military. They are good areas, because agriculture is the basis of the foundation of any country.
“And tourism, it’s growing . . . Zimbabwe has a lot to offer to us, I have been to Victoria Falls, it’s like Calandula in Angola,” he said.
Indonesia’s representative Mr Hidayat, said his focus areas will be to ensure improved trade relations, promote mineral beneficiation and cultural exchanges.
“I reported to the President that my focus here in Zimbabwe is in the three fields; first, to boost the mutual benefit of trade and investment, not only about the export and import, but also to encourage Indonesian companies to open their companies here so there will be exchange of technology and also creating jobs here.
“Number two, I also informed His Excellency that Indonesia is keen to have a collaboration with Zimbabwe to the value-addition processes of the minerals in Zimbabwe, so the President welcomes this initiative and also invites the Indonesian companies to invest in the mineral sector.
“Number three, my third priority will be the social and cultural, how to boost the person-to-person, people-to-people connections between Indonesia and Zimbabwe,” he said.
Ambassador Poulsen said she was looking to see the increase of Denmark’s commercial presence.
“We are still here. I am honoured and humbled to have been accredited as Ambassador to Zimbabwe today by His Excellency.
“We stood firm by Zimbabwe during the liberation struggle . . . today, we have an ambition to increase the commercial footprint of Denmark in Zimbabwe.
“We have heard the call for more trade and investment from Danish companies that have strongholds in the areas of renewable energy, agro-processing and digital innovation,” she said.
As a member of the European Union, she said Denmark was also looking to contribute to the growing trade figures between Harare and Brussels.
