Sunday Mail Reporter
ZIMBABWE and Britain have opened a channel to discuss Harare’s possible return to the Commonwealth after Speaker of Parliament Advocate Jacob Mudenda’s delegation held “productive interactions” with the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) UK Executive Committee, led by Baroness Taylor of Bolton, who is the vice chairperson of the CPA UK branch.
The move, which complements the Government’s engagement and re-engagement drive, as well as Zimbabwe’s desire to be part of multilateral organisations including the Commonwealth, focused on the possible readmission of the country into the Commonwealth and of the Parliament of Zimbabwe into the CPA.
Productive interactions
Discussions also covered the work of the Commonwealth and its various thematic areas.
“Complementing the role of the Executive on engagement and re-engagement and the desire to be part of multilateral organisations including the Commonwealth, the Honourable Speaker (Adv Mudenda) and his delegation held productive interactions with the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association UK Executive Committee led by Baroness Taylor of Bolton, vice chairperson of the CPA UK branch,” the Parliament of Zimbabwe wrote yesterday on its X handle.
“Discussions focused on the possible readmission of Zimbabwe and the Parliament of Zimbabwe into the Commonwealth club and Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, respectively, the work of the Commonwealth and its various thematic areas.
“In acknowledging the critical role of the CPA in boosting the multilateral system by bringing together Commonwealth countries with a shared vision and ideas, Speaker Mudenda expressed Zimbabwe’s, and indeed Parliament’s desire to rejoin the Commonwealth and the CPA, respectively.
“In terms of capacity building, the CPA offers comparative approaches to parliamentarism that will benefit the Zimbabwean Parliament, it was opined.”
The encounter signals that Zimbabwe and Britain are now talking — through their parliamentarians — about a possible Commonwealth return, adding a parliamentary track to Harare’s broader re-engagement with multilateral institutions.
