Online Reporter
Nqobile Bhebhe
Senior Business Reporter
The Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) Company is planning to step up efforts to position the country as a premier trade and investment destination by embarking on a series of international roadshows.
This initiative forms part of the country’s broader economic diplomacy, aligned with its engagement and re-engagement strategy.
In the run-up to the 65th edition of its flagship exhibition, the ZITF Company recently conducted regional promotional tours across Botswana, South Africa and Zambia to build momentum and attract international participation.
The 2025 edition of the ZITF will take place from April 21–26 at the Zimbabwe International Exhibition Centre (ZIEC) in Bulawayo, under the theme: “Industrialisation: Crafting an Integrated Economic Landscape”.
ZITF Company Board chairman, Mr Busisa Moyo, noted the organisation’s proactive role in driving Zimbabwe’s re-engagement agenda.
“We are doing our best to reach out as a Government-controlled entity and drive the agenda of re-engagement,” he said during a media briefing on Wednesday.
“As you will know, to increase international participation, we have gone out on roadshows — for example, to South Africa, Botswana and Zambia — because re-engagement is on several levels.
“There’s political re-engagement and there’s economic re-engagement, and we talk about the latter much less.”
Mr Moyo underscored the critical role economic re-engagement plays in revitalising the national economy and expanding international partnerships.
“Economic re-engagement is also very important. In the coming years, we intend to go even further — to reach out to countries that could offer value through alliances, machinery, funding, skills and technical expertise.
“We are very much hand-in-glove with various diplomatic and economic re-engagement initiatives.
“ZITF is very much front and centre in showing ourselves as a friendly nation — which we are — but we sometimes lack the platforms to demonstrate this. The Trade Fair is one such platform where we optimise opportunities to reconnect with economies we may have lost touch with or had misunderstandings.”
Mr Moyo said a key highlight of this year’s edition is the participation of a large Indian delegation, with a dedicated Zimbabwe–India business session scheduled for Tuesday, aimed at deepening bilateral trade ties.
“This year, we have a huge Indian delegation that will be engaging with the local business sector at the trade fair. The objective is to explore and grow business opportunities in both countries,” said Mr Moyo.
The 2025 ZITF has confirmed participation from a broad spectrum of countries, including Afghanistan, Angola, Austria, Belarus, Botswana, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union Delegation, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Netherlands, Pakistan, Rwanda, South Africa, Sweden, Tanzania, the United Kingdom, the United States, the United Arab Emirates and Zambia.
The increased number of participating firms from Europe and America, some of which were no longer associated with ZITF, underlines how the country has been able to recalibrate its trade through the engagement and re-engagement policy spearheaded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.
Under the Second Republic, the country has been spreading its economic diplomacy to different parts of the world.
As part of the initiative, new embassies and consulates have been opened in countries where they previously did not exist.
In the past few years, new missions have been opened in Rwanda, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates and Equatorial Guinea, among others.
New consulates have also been opened in Dubai, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Beira, Hong Kong and Lubumbashi.
All diplomats have since been mandated to give special attention to business and trade and luring investment.
