EDITORIAL COMMENT: Zimbabwe is open for UAE investment President Mnangagwa

Zimbabwe dominated discussions at the Global Business Forum on Africa (GBFA) which was held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) over the past two days.

Two sessions were dedicated for the country, while there was one session each for the other three focus countries at this year’s edition — Liberia, South Africa and Ethiopia.  

The President headlined the discussion, “Revitalising Zimbabwe —In Conversation with H.E. Emmerson Mnangagwa” on Monday. His Liberian counterpart George Weah led in a separate discussion, “Unleashing Liberia’s Potential — In Conversation with H.E. George Manneh Weah” on the same day. There were two side sessions, on South Africa and Ethiopia. Yesterday, in the second Zimbabwe-focused session at the summit, the Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Professor Mthuli Ncube was the main speaker on the slot, “Rethinking Business in Zimbabwe”.  Local businessperson, Dr Divine Simbi-Ndhlukula was scheduled to participate in the same session.

The President attended the forum at the invitation of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, one of the emirates making up the UAE. Under President Mnangagwa, relations between our country and the UAE are strengthening. He visited that country in March this year but was forced to cut short the tour of duty to return home to deal with the devastation that had been caused by Cyclone Idai. Through discussions he had with the UAE leadership then, the country received large amounts of medical drugs and equipment not only to assist in the national response to the cyclone, but also other areas nationwide.

His visit this week and the special invitation he received from Sheik Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum should yield more support from the UAE, specifically in terms of investment and trade.  The UAE is a wealthy country whose economy is anchored by oil and natural gas. Seeing that both resources will run out at some point in the future, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum and his government are diversifying the national economy to be a tourism as well as a financial hub.

President Mnangagwa and his delegation have learnt a lot from the UAE and also used the forum that ended yesterday to successfully market the country.

“I am happy to have been invited here and I hope that I meet global partici­pants in investments and we are saying Zimbabwe is open for business,” said the President during the segment, “Revitalising Zimbabwe – In Conversation with H.E. Emmerson Mnangagwa” on Monday.

“But perhaps the next country is saying we are also open for business. Another country, perhaps in Asia, is saying we are open for business. You must create conducive conditions for investment.  For those who want to make money, Zimbabwe is open, so come and make money in agriculture, in mining, in industry, in energy,” he said.

The President said due to climate change, electricity generation was now down, especially at Kariba because of low water levels.

“We cannot generate any power any­more but I know that among the people who are here, some have skills; tech­nology in renewable energy like solar.

“We have sunshine from January to December but we don’t have the capital to do it, so I am here to make sure that Zimbabwe is open to do business in those areas.”

This is yet another strong pitch by the President which should yield more investment from the UAE. Zimbabwe is open for business indeed and as the President said, there are massive investment opportunities in agriculture, electricity generation among other sectors.  

Already, the UAE is one of the biggest buyers of locally-produced diamonds and gold.  We also are aware that investors from that country have expressed interest in putting their money into the local tourism, pharmaceutical, mining and the textile industries.

We implore them to speedily take advantage of the solid relations between their country and ours and the intensifying drive by the Government to create an environment that is conducive to foreign direct investment.

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