The Sunday Mail
Dr Masimba Mavaza
President Mnangagwa’s trip to Scotland turned out to be very successful as he engaged and re-engaged, especially with global leaders, some of whose countries had previously turned their backs on Zimbabwe.
In Scotland, hundreds of Zimbabweans and friends of Zimbabwe celebrated in the streets of Glasgow as they welcomed President Mnangagwa.
Before he left Glasgow for Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport, President Mnangagwa addressed prospective investors and Zimbabwean businesspeople virtually at a castle in the town of Blantyre, a few miles from Glasgow.
The President took questions from participants and investors who attended the breakfast meeting.
While in Scotland, President Mnangagwa managed to put his soft diplomacy into practice as he informed leaders and companies, some of whom had disengaged from Zimbabwe, that the country has changed since the new dispensation and that she is now a “friend to all and enemy to none.”
President Mnangagwa also invited investors to take up opportunities in various sectors of the economy that include mining, tourism, agriculture, manufacturing and ICT, among others.
The President implored British citizens to tour Zimbabwe as it is now open for business.
President Mnangagwa said the Scottish people had the duty to come to Zimbabwe to see the development done by some of their own, and then continue from there.
It goes without saying that the President’s attendance of the COP26 Summit was not only important for climate change, but for Zimbabwe’s re-engagement drive as well.
The COP26 event is a global United Nations summit focusing on climate change and how countries will tackle the issue.
This year it took place in Glasgow, Scotland, with more than 200 world leaders attending.
President Mnangagwa rubbed shoulders with the world’s top leaders, in a major score for the country’s re-engagement agenda.
President Mnangagwa, the first Zimbabwean leader to be invited to the United Kingdom (UK) in over 20 years, after the latter placed travel restrictions on ZANU PF leaders during the height of a major bilateral dispute in 2002.
The invitation itself showed the success of the re-engagement efforts, and was a slap in the face of the opposition.
COP26 has ambitious aims, all geared towards building climate resilience and preventing further climate change.
The President spelt out climate sustainability issues in Zimbabwe, and his administration’s work on ensuring climate resilience.
The UN Climate Summit, which opened in Glasgow on October 31, 2021, is widely seen as a pivotal moment in the effort to halt climate change.
President Mnangagwa was busy throughout the summit, as he lobbied for multilateral support to fight against the effects of climate change.
The lobbying turned to an extension of his hand of re-engagement to fellow global leaders as he undertook his first visit to the United Kingdom.
Said President Mnangagwa at the summit:
“While we will offer to hasten our economic transformation, we do need to remain alive to the shocks of drought and the impact of climate change through necessary social safety nets.
“I am appealing for multilateral support to supplement our efforts. Zimbabwe has come a long way over the past three years. I hope our presence at COP26 and our commitment to the global fight against climate change will be recognised as part of our ongoing re-engagement campaign.”
The President took part in discussions at COP26, which are going to be an important step in agreeing to a collective way forward.
“For Zimbabwe, we feel the impact of climate change more than others. Our temperatures have risen by approximately 2 degrees Celsius over the past century – which has seen a significant increase in extreme weather,” said President Mnangagwa before leaving for the summit.
COP26 seeks to negotiate and agree the rules that will set the world on a pathway to net zero by 2050.
Businesses in every country and sector will have a role to play in supporting governments to meet their emission reduction targets.
Some will be climate winners, and others will – unfortunately – lose out.
The ability to identify and mitigate climate risks early on will be a critical competitive advantage for companies seeking to seize opportunities, and for those who must pivot to survive.
COP26 delivered key insights that will help position businesses to solve the climate change-related challenges and crises that arise and convert risk into opportunity.
Zimbabwe is at a disadvantage because of sanctions.
To that end, it became imperative for President Mnangagwa to raise the issue of sanctions. It is difficult to implement a massive economic change while a country is under heavy economic sanctions.
COP stands for Conference of the Parties, and is attended by countries that signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) – a treaty agreed in 1994.
The 2021 meeting is the 26th meeting, which is why it is called COP26.
Zimbabwe understands that temperatures are rising because of fossil fuel emissions.
The earth is suffering as ice caps are melting and sea levels are rising.
We are seeing more extreme weather events taking place around the world, including heat waves, floods and forest fires. These naturally occurring events are being made worse because of the effects of climate change.
The past decade was the warmest on record, and governments around the world agree that urgent action is needed.
People in developing countries such as Zimbabwe are feeling these climate change effects too, doubly so as indicated by President Mnangagwa.
Even though countries like Zimbabwe, tend to pollute less and are not responsible for most of the emissions in the past, they experience some of the worst effects of climate change.
Zimbabwe needs finances to help reduce its emissions and also to cope with climate change. The country will need to adopt greener sources of energy such as solar, since we currently depend on energy from coal and flood defence systems.
Zimbabwe has since opened doors to investors of renewable energy to come and invest in the country.
During COP26, President Mnangagwa met with European Union (EU) President Charles Michel.
“As the first President of Zimbabwe to visit the UK in a quarter of a century, it is clear that re-engagement is working,” he said.
The President also met with fellow African colleague, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta. The summit was inclusive, as it included religious leaders who were also part of the entourage that has taken the trip as another opportunity to get rid of restrictions imposed on the country.
The President was at work as early as 02:30 am as he chaired preparatory briefings.
An integral component on the sidelines of the Glasgow Summit was the country’s anti-sanctions push.
Some eight clerics, including Father Fidelis Mukonori, travelled with the President, and met with religious and political leaders to press against the illegal sanctions on Zimbabwe.
President Mnangagwa held a number of bilateral meetings on the sidelines of COP26. These included Victoria Grace Ford, the Minister of Africa for the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and Palestinian Prime Minister Dr Mohammad Shtayyeh.
He also met the Commonwealth secretary-general Baroness Patricia Scotland.
While meeting the world leaders, President Mnangagwa informed them that in the past two decades alone, Zimbabwe has had to deal with 10 devastating droughts.
“If the world doesn’t step up, we will see jobs lost, livelihoods destroyed, and people will lose their lives. This is being made worse by the incapability caused by the illegal sanctions,” said the President.
“That is something we must avoid and why Zimbabwe is coming to the table with ambitious plans to tackle climate change.”
Earlier in September, the Zimbabwean leader also warned that thousands of Zimbabweans would lose their jobs, and even their lives, if climate change was allowed to continue at the current pace.
He said COP26 should be about action and the fulfillment of decisions of the past, adding that concrete financial support was essential to combat climate change beyond mere rhetoric.
COP26 has been described as the most significant climate event since the 2015 Paris Agreement.
There was positive feedback from the investors as many told Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube and Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Frederick Shava that they will come to invest in Zimbabwe.
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