Zim keen on deals with Indonesia: VP Mohadi

Africa Moyo in BALI, Indonesia

VICE PRESIDENT Kembo Mohadi arrived here yesterday for the Second Indonesia-Africa Forum and the High-Level Forum on Multi-Stakeholder Partnership, where he expects to meet host President Joko Widodo on the sidelines of the meetings and tie up potential deals for the pharmaceutical and railways sectors.

VP Mohadi was received at the Ngurah Rai International Airport by Indonesia’s Ambassador to Zimbabwe Dewa Sastrawan and Zimbabwe’s Ambassador-Designate to Indonesia Martin Makururu and other embassy staff.

He was accompanied by Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Minister Monica Mutsvangwa.

The conferences run from today until Tuesday under the theme “Bandung Spirit for Africa’s Agenda 2063”.

Over 1 500 delegates from across Africa and Asia are already in Bali, while others are expected to arrive today.

In an interview after his arrival, VP Mohadi said Indonesia is strong in the pharmaceutical, railways and oil and gas sectors, and Zimbabwe would be keen to tap into its experience in its quest to achieve an empowered and prosperous upper middle-income economy by 2030.

“Well, I think we are going to benefit quite a lot (from the conferences). Most African countries are here, and we have come to discuss,” said VP Mohadi.

“On our part, we have bilaterals; we want to zero in much on pharmaceuticals, which is an area that we lack.

“We would want Indonesia, because they are very much developed in the area of pharmaceuticals, to come and establish, say, some pharmaceutical businesses in Zimbabwe.”

Indonesia, VP Mohadi said, is equally good in oil and gas. Zimbabwe has discovered oil, helium and hydrogen in Muzarabani, Mashonaland Central province, a development expected to spur economic growth once commercial exploitation of the resources begins.

Invictus Energy Ltd, an independent upstream oil and gas company listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, announced that the tests it did confirmed the presence not only of natural gas, but also light oil condensate and helium and hydrogen at the Mukuyu well. The natural gas is of high quality, while the oil is equally of top quality, requiring less refining. Experts say light oil produces diesel, petrol and aviation fuel.

“They have got a lot of oil and gas. And we know that we don’t have oil, so we need oil. I will discuss with the President (Widodo) when we do our bilaterals,” added VP Mohadi.

“Also, the railway system, if we can revamp it. Our railway network is lagging, but they are very good in the railway business here . . .

“So, we will be discussing those things and if there are any areas where we think we can sign some MoUs (memoranda of understanding), we will definitely do that.”

With Indonesia also strong on the production of electric vehicles, the Zimbabwe delegation expects discussions around lithium — the most sought-after mineral powering the green energy revolution — which the country has in abundance.

Other leaders expected at the Bali conferences include Presidents Paul Kagame of Rwanda, Joseph Nyuma Boakai of Liberia, Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana and Dr Hussein Ali Mwinyi of Zanzibar.