Chronicle EditorNqobile Bhebhe, Senior Business Reporter
The Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) Company is ramping up efforts to establish the nation as a premier trade and investment destination through a series of international roadshows. This initiative forms part of Zimbabwe’s broader economic diplomacy, aligned with its engagement and re-engagement strategy.
Ahead of its 65th edition, the ZITF Company recently conducted regional promotional tours across Botswana, South Africa and Zambia to generate momentum and attract global participation. The 2025 ZITF will run from 21 to 26 April at the Zimbabwe International Exhibition Centre (ZIEC) in Bulawayo, under the theme: “Industrialisation: Crafting an Integrated Economic Landscape.”
ZITF Company Board Chairman Mr Busisa Moyo emphasised the organisation’s proactive role in advancing Zimbabwe’s re-engagement agenda.
“We are doing our best to reach out as a government-controlled entity and drive the agenda of re-engagement,” he said during Wednesday’s media briefing. “To increase international participation, we’ve conducted roadshows in South Africa, Botswana and Zambia because re-engagement operates on multiple levels. There’s political re-engagement and economic re-engagement – the latter often receives less attention.”
Mr Moyo added: “Economic re-engagement is equally crucial. In coming years, we plan to expand our outreach to nations that can offer value through alliances, machinery, funding, skills and technical expertise.”
“We work closely with various diplomatic and economic re-engagement initiatives. ZITF serves as a frontline platform to showcase Zimbabwe as a friendly nation – which we are – though we sometimes lack avenues to demonstrate this. The Trade Fair provides such an opportunity to reconnect with economies where relations may have lapsed or faced misunderstandings.”
Online Reporter
Bongani Ndlovu