The Sunday Mail
PRESIDENT Mnangagwa last week commissioned evangelist and businessman Uebert Angel as Presidential envoy and Ambassador-at-Large to the Americas and Europe. Part of his brief includes canvassing for trade and investment opportunities. Ambassador Angel spoke to our reporter Emmanuel Kafe on how he intends to marshal his vast business networks to promote investment in the country.
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Q: Let me begin by congratulating you on your new appointment. Many are wondering what the post of Ambassador-at-Large entails.
A: I am entrusted by His Excellency, President Mnangagwa, with a broad mandate to represent and advance Zimbabwe’s strategic national interests in these two regions in line with Vision 2030, which stipulates that Zimbabwe is on its way to becoming an upper middle-income economy.
I firmly believe that the platform I have enables me to perform my duties as Ambassador-at-Large to Europe and the Americas in collaboration with non-State actors, State actors, particularly from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, and of course the Office of the President and Cabinet.
So, you can understand this is a great responsibility which I do not take lightly.
I am sincerely appreciative of His Excellency, President Mnangagwa, for calling me to serve the country in this capacity.
It is an honour that I take with the utmost respect.
To sum it up in layman’s terms, my responsibility entails representing my country Zimbabwe and its people in Europe and the Americas as Ambassador-at-Large, as well as Presidential envoy for the benefit of Zimbabwe.
Q: What are your primary duties as Ambassador-at-Large?
A: As aforementioned, I have a broad mandate to represent and advance the national interests in line with the President’s vision of making Zimbabwe an upper middle-income country by 2030.
In other words, as Ambassador-at-Large, my principal duty is to leverage all the resources at my disposal to contribute to Zimbabwe’s economic development, engagement and re-engagement efforts, and help echo the sentiments that Zimbabwe is open for business, just as his Excellency, the President, has been reiterating.
Q: Can you briefly tell us about Uebert Angel?
A: I am just a serial investor and countryman who is not interested in the least bit with political cannibalism, but in the progress of anything Zimbabwean.
So I am so very much elated to be able to serve my country in this new capacity.
Q: You are coming into this new assignment from years in business and evangelism, some people may want to know how your experiences in these two diverse areas will help you in your new posting?
A: I have worked with a healthy pool of similar-minded people in politics, including many Heads of State, billionaires and millionaires alike in different industries who have an insatiable appetite for business and the development of this country.
So, I firmly know beyond depth and beyond height that my religious and business acumen built over the years adequately prepared me for my role as the Ambassador-at-Large.
Q: How does your assignment fit into President Mnangagwa’s engagement and re-engagement efforts in fulfilment of Vision 2030?
A: My view is that His Excellency President Mnangagwa’s efforts to lure investors into the country are highly commendable.
That is what Zimbabwe needs at this critical juncture in pursuit of our goal to be an upper middle-income economy by 2030.
I view my role as contributing to the attainment of the Vision 2030 by leveraging all the resources and the contacts that I have in business and politics in Europe and the Americas and channel them towards the development of the country.
To me this is not a mirage; it is an attainable goal.
Q: Will taking up this new role affect your work as a man of the cloth and businessman in any way?
A: Most Western economies that many admire are built on Judeo-Christian values of which I am well versed.
So I am taking my role just as a duck takes to water.
It is also a well-known fact that I am serial investor, so this is my area of expertise.
I do deals regularly mostly in countries where I meet politicians, power brokers and many businesspeople.
As you see, all the hats I wear are complementary, so being an Ambassador-at-Large makes use of my skills, knowledge and experience as a man of God and my expertise as an investor.
Q: Following your appointment last week, what will be your first order of business?
A: First of all, you will be enthused to note that Zimbabwe has more than enough of what the world is interested in: We have a robust resource base and the investment climate is very friendly.
So my first principal task is to bring our friends in business from Europe and the Americas to Zimbabwe and showcase the very fact that we as a country are open for business.
Not only that, our country is one of the best holiday destinations with the best climate, wonderful sights and unmatched natural resources. I see this as my first port of call.
Q: You are aware that Zimbabwe is under sanctions from the US and the EU, where we understand you have been deployed to. What sort of role will you be playing to facilitate and expedite the removal of the sanctions?
A: As every Zimbabwean is aware, there are US sanctions on Zimbabwe enshrined in ZDERA (Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act).
Every Zimbabwean should seek to see the removal of the sanctions and a return to our unfettered engagement with the USA.
I am sure that there is a strong, competent and hardworking team within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, and indeed across all arms of the Government, specifically tasked with working towards the removal of sanctions with their counterparts in the US government.
Lest we forget, the US, through the secretary of state, Henry Kissinger, played a vital role in negotiating for black majority rule in Zimbabwe from 1976.
From my visits in the US, I am convinced that goodwill is still there among the US citizens.
I am relying on that friendship and goodwill among our friends in the US to contribute to Zimbabwe’s economic development, engagement and re-engagement goals.
My part in that is that of every Zimbabwean to showcase that the perception of Zimbabwe out there is not really what is on the ground, so it is everyone’s duty to showcase a Zimbabwe that is conducive for business to their connections in America so that the narrative changes.
When the narrative changes, the policy will ultimately change.
