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Precious Manomano
Herald Reporter
TIES between Zimbabwe and Belarus are set to strengthen further with more investments in the agriculture and mining sectors.
Yesterday, a Belarus delegation met officials from the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development in Harare to discuss co-operation and continued support in the supply of farm mechanisation equipment to Zimbabwe.
Belarus has committed to supplying fertilisers, increase national strategic grain reserves and supply mechanised equipment.
In an interview, Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement Deputy Minister Vangelis Haritatos said the meeting was meant to improve co-operation between the agricultural sectors of Zimbabwe and Belarus adding that they were currently negotiating for Belarus Phase 3 which is desperately required by the country.
He said the country was far behind in terms of equipment to operate at a maximum capacity.
“The meeting was about co-operation between the agricultural sectors of Zimbabwe and Belarus. We discussed continuity in the supply of farm mechanisation.
“As you are aware there are two phases of the programme, Belarus 1 and 2 and now we are currently negotiating Phase 3 which is required by the country.
“We are far behind in terms of mechanisation so they are providing us with the deficit for our mechanisation to bring it to Phase 3,” Deputy Minister Haritatos said.
He added that Belarus is also interested in supporting the agricultural sector through the supply of fertilisers and grains.
“The support is coming in several components such as supply of fertiliser. So they are currently talking to ARDA which falls under our ministry. They are also looking at value addition in supporting us with storage in our silos.
“We have lifted or increased our strategic grain reserves from half a million metric tonnes to one-and-a- half million metric tonnes, but we don’t have enough storage for that so they want to help with the supply of silos,” Deputy Minister Haritatos said.
He said they have requested for unfinished products under farm mechanisation.
“Under mechanisation we have put some requests to them that they don’t send us the finished products, but we look into being an industrial hub for Sub-Saharan African markets. They will send us kits and we will be the plant that puts everything together.
“We are also looking at helping them to produce certain implements like discs which we can produce in Zimbabwe.
“So we are looking to become an industrial hub for agricultural implements as well as tractors in the region.
“This is possible because of the mutual understanding between the two great nations. These are the fruits of the Second Republic,” the Deputy Minister said.
He expressed gratitude to President Mnangagwa for pushing ahead with such mutually beneficial agreements.
Belarusian Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Piotr Parkhomchik, said they will continue to assist Zimbabwe.
“We want to continue co-operating well with Zimbabwe. We will also continue to provide the necessary support to the country. We are satisfied with the crops such as tobacco and cotton.
“We are also satisfied with the citrus fruits and we want them to be exported to Belarus,” he said.
In January 2019, President Mnangagwa visited Belarus and sealed nine agreements with that country’s President Aleksandr Lukashenko.
The two leaders committed to strengthen co-operation in various sectors that include agriculture, mining, infrastructural development and science and innovation.
Online Reporter