Chronicle Editor
Bongani Ndlovu, Online Reporter
UNITED Kingdom-based Westminster Africa Business Group paid a courtesy call on President Mnangagwa on Wednesday morning at State House in Harare.
The Group was established in 1947 and connects companies and individuals with interests in the commercial and political sectors within Africa.
Westminster Africa Business Group Chairman and Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom, Mr Laurence Robertson, said they are seeking to increase trade, cooperation and friendship between the two countries.
“We are in Zimbabwe to pay a courtesy call to the President and a number of other ministers with a view on how we can increase trade, cooperation and friendship between our two countries. It’s a very short visit but a very very good visit and we have been welcomed very warmly and the words that have been used are very encouraging. This is actually my first visit to Zimbabwe, and it won’t be my last,” said Mr Robertson.
President Mnangagwa’s engagement and re-engagement initiative has been opening new frontiers for Zimbabwe.
The re-engagement drive is part of a battery of policies that the Second Republic is implementing to ensure that Zimbabwe achieves its vision of attaining an Upper Middle Income Economy by 2030 through increased foreign direct investment.
Soon after his inauguration to mark his first five years in office, President Mnangagwa hit the ground running and immediately introduced the “Zimbabwe is Open for Business” philosophy.
A cocktail of policies epitomised by President Mnangagwa’s “Zimbabwe is Open for Business” philosophy and the engagement and re-engagement drive have seen the country leading global bodies such as the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme (KPCS).
Presently, Zimbabwe is the chair of KP — a global body of diamond-producing nations that has 52 participants, representing 82 countries, with the European Union and its member states counting as a single participant.
Apart from being chair of KP, a global body that sets out the requirements for controlling rough diamond production and trade, Zimbabwe is also chair of the 19-member Africa Diamond Producers’ Association (ADPA).
Online Reporter
Bongani Ndlovu