Online Reporter
Michael Tome in Lusaka, Zambia
ZimTrade’s services business mission to Zambia started on Tuesday, as the national trade promotion and development body intensifies efforts to diversify Zimbabwe’s export base and strengthen its regional economic footprint.
The mission, which ends on Wednesday, signals a strategic shift in Zimbabwe’s export promotion agenda as the country seeks to increase participation in regional and global trade in services, focusing initially on construction, building and agricultural services.
This is part of Zimbabwe’s national export earnings target for 2030 is US$14 billion.
This target is a key component of the country’s National Export Strategy and Vision 2030, which seeks to transform Zimbabwe into an upper-middle-income economy.
Speaking during the opening conference of the mission, Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to Zambia, Charity Charamba, said the programme presents a significant opportunity for Zimbabwean firms to capitalise on.
She said the mission comes at a time when Zimbabwean businesses are increasingly expanding operations beyond national borders, particularly into neighbouring Zambia, reflecting strong bilateral relations and growing economic cooperation between the two countries.
“The Zambia mission is expected to create openings for Zimbabwean firms to leverage the region’s infrastructure development wave, which has seen increasing demand for services ranging from architecture and civil engineering to project management and interior design,” Ambassador Charamba said.
ZimTrade manager for export promotion, Mrs Vuyiswa Mafu, said they deliberately selected the construction and building services sector as the starting point for the country’s services export drive due to Zimbabwe’s established expertise and strong regional reputation.
“We started with the strategic decision to begin with the construction and building sector, considering Zimbabwe’s well-established expertise and regional reputation in civil engineering, technical consultancy and related services,” said Mrs Mafu.
She noted that ZimTrade had since broadened the scope of the initiative to incorporate agricultural services, recognising growing regional demand for specialised agricultural expertise and support services.
Charles Duri