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Sunday News Reporters
THE curtain to this year’s historical Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) came down yesterday with the new political dispensation’s business drive manifesting itself through the surge in business deals clinched during the showcase.
The showcase, probably one of the major events to breathe life into the City of Bulawayo in particular since time immemorial winded up amid pomp and fanfare as thousands, mostly parents and their children flocked to the exhibition centre and the lunar park since the start of the public days on Friday.
The exhibition started on Tuesday with the first three days being reserved for business of which the major highlight was the ZITF International Business Conference, which was officially opened by Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga.
The other highlights also included the Zimbabwe-Belarus Business Networking Forum and the ZITF-Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) Original Equipment Manufacturers’ Breakfast meeting, which were held on the sidelines of the fair on Thursday. This year’s exhibition was officially opened by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on Friday.
Speaking at a Press conference to mark the end of the 60th edition of the exhibition, Industry and Commerce Minister Nqobizitha Mangaliso Ndlovu said this year’s showcase experienced more business traffic compared to the previous years.
The latest development resonates well with President Mnangagwa’s “Zimbabwe is Open for Business” mantra, which has seen the Government introducing a raft of economic measures to open up the economy to both local and foreign investors.
“During the (ZITF International business) conference, a loud call was made for industry to diversify its export markets so as to spread out risk and improve the country’s balance of trade. The discussions also highlighted how Government’s economic reforms are beginning to bear fruit with notable improvement in the interest by potential investors who are keen to set up in the special economic zone areas,” said Minister Ndlovu.
He said exhibitors were also satisfied with the quality of their interactions.
“The business to business trading period (first three days) saw approximately 7 767 business visitors walking through the exhibition. The calibre of this year’s business visitor was also quite high as we had a significant number of senior level business executives and representation from the highest echelons of Government.
“Preliminary survey results show that 85 percent of our exhibitions met with their target customers, 90 percent established new business links, 60 percent of exhibiting companies received local orders during the show while 30 percent received export orders and 60 percent received prospects for future sales,” said Minister Ndlovu.
Speaking at the same function, ZITF Company acting general manager Mr Nicholas Ndebele said the increase in the number of business visitors was an indication of the investor’s confidence to engage in the investment opportunities existing in the country.
“What is also interesting perhaps is the number of business visitors that we received this year compared to last year. Last year we had 6 914 business visitors and this year we are at 7 767, to us that’s an indication that there is a lot of interest from business players and we expect that from the various concurrent events that ran and allowed the networking between business executives, we anticipate that there will be more deals clinched compared to last year,” he said.
Minister Ndlovu said this year’s fair, apart from recording high attendance numbers, the quality of products on show and the level of nation building discussions that was engaged upon were splendid.
“This trade showcase provided a unique platform to identify catalytic actions necessary for progress on trade, investment, infrastructural development and industrial growth, in line with the country’s guiding policy document TSP and its vision for an upper-middle income economy by 2030,” he said.
Minister Ndlovu also said during the ZITF-CZI Original Equipment Manufacturers’ Breakfast meeting which took place on Thursday a consensus was made to come up with strategies to promote business linkages in various sectors to tap into the vast opportunities for regional trade.
“Industry was urged to take advantage of the existing bilateral trade agreements between Zimbabwe and Botswana, with the presentation from Botswana Investment and Trade Centre highlighting investment opportunities that Zimbabwean business can explore,” he said.
Air Zimbabwe communications officer Ms Firstme Vitori said this year’s exhibition saw a surge in numbers of both business visitors as well as the general public creating a platform for exhibitors to highlight their products.
“It has been a good experience for us as Air Zimbabwe at this year’s ZITF with us engaging with our stakeholders from the various sectors that we deal with and most notably the general public. We are extremely happy with the attendance at this year’s exhibition during the public days it has been a full house. We managed to come up with an exhibition package that was understandable to the general public for them to have a feel of what it feels like to be in an aircraft and people were making enquiries in terms of careers that are available in aviation and also our domestic and international flight packages,” she said.
Meanwhile, police in Bulawayo said there were no major incidents recorded during the five-day event mainly due to increased deployment of police officers. Bulawayo acting police spokesperson Inspector Abednico Ncube said officers were deployed at various positions in and outside the main ZITF arena to maintain peace.
“We tripled and tightened security, not only at the ZITF arena but also stretching to the Bulawayo City Centre. We had police officers deployed on all six roads leading to the ZITF with Chief Superintendents leading a group of officers. In total we had more than six chief superintendents supervising segments because we divided the ZITF into portions, including the CBD, which was also under supervision and that was the first of its kind,” he said.
“We are happy to have realised that the operation was effective as there was not much crime in the city since Tuesday. There were a few theft cases and a break in at a location outside the ZITF. However, all cases are under investigation and no arrests have been made so far. It is clear that officers were out to do their level best.”
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