Staff Reporter

Addressing attendees at the ZITF Foreign Diplomats Forum, this Thursday, which ran under  the theme, "Crafting a Global Landscape of Resilience and Innovation:

Strategies for International Competitiveness”, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, David Musabayana acknowledged the critical role being played by the diplomatic community, on enhancing growth of Zimbabwe through promoting warm relations.

“Your governments are indeed playing a huge role in developing Zimbabwe in various dimensions. Majority of you are facilitating business international trade with Zimbabwe and business connectivity,” Deputy Minister Musabayana said.

Musabayana added that Zimbabwe was on a drive to become an Upper Middle Income Economy by 2030. He stressed that the country was standing firm on the trajectory to achieve Vision 2030.

 “We value cooperation and interaction with the international community. We are trying to mend relations with our old friends and hope to make new friends again," he said.

Deputy Minister Musabayana thanked foreign exhibitors who participated at the 2023 ZITF. He urged foreign exhibitors to continue to invite more investors to invest in Zimbabwe, citing that Zimbabwe wanted to grow its industrial base.

Speaking during the same event, Secretary General of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat, Wamkele Mene said AfCFTA was now in its 5th year of implementation. He said, “By removing trade barriers among African countries we intend to succeed in the task of limiting barriers to trade and innovation.”

Mene highlighted that AfCFTA in partnership with Afreximbank introduced the Africa Trade Gateway, which was meant to provide market and due diligence information about counterparts, especially to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). He further said the AfCFTA Adjustment Fund, would support the manufacturing sector of AfCFTA State parties, so that they boost production of goods.

Mene added that, “African countries are at different levels of industrialisation, as such AfCFTA is working with the Afreximbank to ensure that all countries benefit from the digital tools”.

The ZITF Diplomatic Forum was attended by various members of the Diplomatic Corps, Senior Government Officials, notably Minister of Industry and Commerce, Dr Sekai Nzenza and her Deputy, Raj Modi, as well as several Captains of the Industry.