
The ongoing Government Experience Exchange Programme workshop between Zimbabwe and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), will reinvigorate Zimbabwe and offer a dashboard view of international best practices.
Opening the three-day workshop in Harare yesterday, Vice President Dr Constantino Chiwenga said Zimbabwe wanted to emulate the highly successful and rapid economic growth of the UAE with its high level of service delivery.
Zimbabwe has sent Ministers, Deputy Ministers and Permanent Secretaries across Government to learn from the UAE economic growth model.
The workshop comes at a time when Zimbabwe and the UAE continue to strengthen bilateral relations for the benefit of their two peoples.
The UAE is one of the leading global economies with best international practices in economic management.
On its part, Zimbabwe which is on a trajectory to attain an empowered upper middle income society by 2030, is hoping to tap from the UAE example which has seen the Arab nation grow into a first world country with one of the most resilient and sustainable economies in the world.
VP Chiwenga said the workshop is coming at the most opportune time when key Government structures have been established and key appointments made.
“Honourable Ministers, Deputy Ministers and Permanent Secretaries, this workshop is among other objectives expected to re-invigorate our modus operandi by offering us best practices in leadership, accelerating implementation of programmes and projects and other contemporary evolutions and innovations in government excellence and service delivery,” said VP Chiwenga.
“I have no doubt that the workshop will impact positively through high performance and delivery of timeous and quality services to the people in addition to fostering transparency and accountability.
“In line with our traditional ethos of kugara nhaka kuona dzavamwe (there is no need to reinvent the wheel) and the assiduous development pathway that we have chosen to follow as a nation, it is necessary that we benchmark with other best practicing countries.
“We do not necessarily have to do an outright cut-and-paste of the various development templates that we learn from outside, but we need to contextualise and systemise them in order to strengthen our capacities and capabilities to accelerate the implementation of our transformative agenda under Vision 2030,” said VP Chiwenga.
The workshop was coming on the backdrop of a Government High Level Meeting at the end of September and the 20th ZANU PF Annual People’s Conference at the end of last month, VP Chiwenga said.
At these two gatherings, key policy imperatives were articulated to robustly guide the programmatic agenda of Government, for the next five-year tenure of the Second Republic.
“We should all adopt an attitude of ensuring clinical execution of our various roles and responsibilities and delivery of quality services in order to justify the fresh mandate to rule bestowed on us by the people in the recently held August 2023 Harmonised General Elections,” said VP Chiwenga.
“The people of Zimbabwe are now expecting Government to start delivering tangible and impactful results, based on the promises made during the campaign and the policy pronouncements made thereafter.
“We therefore need to revamp our systems and processes so that they are able to comply with the requirements of accelerated movement towards the early attainment of Vision 2030.”
VP Chiwenga said emphasis will primarily be on the promotion of symmetrical and inclusive development, as espoused in the principle of leaving no one and no place behind.
The nine focal areas of reform are Government services, Government accelerators, Government excellence, leadership and capacity building, ICT skills development, human resources, competitiveness and statistics, Government strategy and innovation, and Government performance and the national agenda.
UAE Deputy Minister of Cabinet Affairs for Competitiveness Experience Exchange Abdullah Lootah said they have come with eminent professionals who have played and are playing a key role in the development of the UAE economy.
The UAE was hoping to strengthen bilateral exchange with Zimbabwe, encourage collaboration and attract foreign direct investments.
“We will guide the best practice in our health services by zooming on the highest services offered,” said Deputy Minister Lootah.
“We will talk about our 100-day methodology which is aimed at ensuring both efficiency and effectiveness.
“We will also highlight achievements in infrastructure development,” he said.
Deputy Minister Lootah said they will give Zimbabweans a chance to benchmark their practices with best UAE practices.
Several other areas of the economy like ICT, health, tourism among others would be discussed.
Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet Dr Martin Rushwaya said the exchange programme is part of Government’s, “endeavour to strengthen the early attainment of vision 2030”.
“In order to achieve the aforementioned we need to learn and share experiences with the best practicing countries,” said Dr Rushwaya.
He said as Government they will do their best to ensure they make the most of the opportunity and tap from the UAE governance example.
Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture Minister Kirsty Coventry said: “I hope my ministry will be able to learn how they managed to professionalise some of their industries.
“We have just heard about public private partnerships that it cannot be the responsibility of Government alone,” said Minister Coventry.
Energy and Power Development Minister Edgar Moyo said: “The UAE is a very successful country in many ways and Zimbabwe aspires to be a successful country too so we will be learning from their model and transition”.
Youth Empowerment, Development and Vocational Training Minister Tino Machakaire weighed in saying: “It is very important to have these programmes for us as a nation as we journey towards an empowered upper middle income economy.”
Herald
Positive Eue News