The Sunday Mail
From Fatima Bulla in SHANGHAI, China
Chinese businesspeople are keen to visit Zimbabwe to explore investment opportunities after a presentation on Brand Zimbabwe on the sidelines of the China International Import Expo (CIIE).
Industry and Commerce Minister Mangaliso Ndlovu and ZimTrade CEO Mr Allan Majuru made presentations which participants said whetted their appetite for Zimbabwe-focused investment..
Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to China Paul Chikawa and trade attaché at the embassy in Beijing, Dr Mavis Sibanda, were also in attendance. Dr Sibanda will soon return to Zimbabwe as Secretary for Industry.
Notable Chinese participants at the presentation included Mr Wang Wei, chair of Zhong Rong Construction Group Company Limited, and his partner Gu Zhe; and the president of New Hope Environmental Protection Technology Company Limited, Chen Hanzhong.
Minister Ndlovu said, “Zimbabwe has embarked on a turnaround with the policy ‘Zimbabwe is Open for Business’. Everyone has security of their business guaranteed.
“We are offering incentives to investors coming to invest in Zimbabwe, exploring industrial parks, and I am happy that China has huge experience in that; I hope to learn from you. Zimbabwe is open for business and has open arms to the Chinese as they come for business,” he said.
ZimTrade’s Mr Majuru said there was scope for investments in infrastructure and value addition for exports.
“We want to export more value-added goods.
“We have tea, crocodile meat, beef, leather, tobacco, elephant skin and minerals, agricultural production, agro-processing, including irrigation and mechanisation of agriculture.
“In infrastructure, lots of roads and bridges are needed.
“Zimbabwe should be a hub for Southern Africa and it’s impossible without infrastructure,” he said.
Mr Majuru said Zimbabwe was a land-linked gateway to markets in Sadc, the East Africa Commmunity and Comesa.
Ms Dong Suzhen, president of Qingdao Xi Lai Ya Group, which specialises in agriculture, said: “I am willing to go to Zimbabwe and invest after hearing the speech by ZimTrade.
“I am interested in processing, value addition and Chinese traditional medicine.
“It is possible to invest in Zimbabwe.
“I have 20 companies in China and I prefer a link in Zimbabwe and enterprises in China.”
The president of Mi Guo Industrial Park Mr Wang Zhigiang, said they are willing to explore opportunities in mineral and natural resource exploration, industrial parks and basic infrastructure such as bridges, roads and electricity.
“Zhejiang has the strength to bring e-commerce between our country and the outside world. On the basis of this, we will work strongly in resources exploration, environment issues and policies so we can get a high level of cooperation,” he said.
The inaugural CIIE, which ended yesterday, was hosted by the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China and Shanghai Municipal People’s Government, in partnership with World Trade Organisation, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and United Nations Industrial Development.
CIIE is an initiative spearheaded by China’s President Xi Jinping to support trade liberalisation and economic globalisation.
