SIXTEEN firms are participating in the 2023 Zimbabwe-United Arab Emirates Business Forum which kicked off here this Monday.
This comes at a time when Zimbabwe continues to lure potential investors in various sectors of the economy to grow the country’s exports and investment inflows under the engagement and re-engagement agenda.
This has seen 16 Zimbabwean companies participating at the Zimbabwe-United Arab Emirates Business Forum which kicked off in Dubai this Monday, with ZimTrade Director Operations Mr Similo Nkala indicating that the objective is to grow the country’s annual export earnings.
“In 2016 we had exports to this country of around US$170 million and last year we reached US$2.1 billion. Overall, our exports reached US$6 billion and we hope to get to US$14 billion by 2030,” he said.
The country is also represented by Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) chief executive officer Mrs Winnie Muchanyuka and Zimbabwe Investment Development Agency (ZIDA) Promotion Manager Mr Tapindwa Chipunza who outlined available investment opportunities in power generation, agriculture, mining, and tourism.
“Before COVID-19, we used to record 2.5 million visitors, but we started picking up recording 1.1 million last year and we hope to go back to our usual numbers next year. We also noted that there is growing interest in conferencing under MICE which requires huge investments, and we have a deficit of 7 000 rooms at the moment which is a good area to invest,” Mrs Muchanyuka said.
Mr Chipunza added, “We have over 32 million hectares of potential agricultural land, abundant water bodies across all Afro-ecological regions. Actual power generation averages 1500MW. The country’s mining sector is expected to require approximately 2000MW by 2025 and Zimbabwe will require more than 4000MW by 2030, hence the need to huge investments in this sector are needed.”
Zimbabwe’s top envoy to the UAE, Ambassador Lovemore Mazemo said the forum indicates a commitment to continuously grow bilateral relations between the two countries.
“The commitment by the two governments comes from the existence of BIPPA signed and ratified. This is the highest level of commitment as we continue to strengthen strategic partnerships,” he said.
Zimbabwe’s economy has been growing under the Second Republic and the engagement and re-engagement policy is expected to further enhance increased exports and investment inflows.
This comes after Expo 2020 Dubai opened more avenues for Zimbabwe’s economic growth.
ZBC
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