THE European (EU) has invested more than 600 million euros towards addressing climate change and drought mitigation programmes among others in Zimbabwe, EU Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Mr Jobst von Kirchmann has said.
He said one of their flagship projects is the rehabilitation of Kariba Dam and the bloc has invested over 130 million euros.
Over 250 million euros has been channelled towards gender equality and empowerment programmes in the country.
Amb Kirchmann said the EU contributed 250 million euros to greener and smart agriculture to mitigate drought in the country.
The EU is a group of 27 countries in Europe and nine of them comprising France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Sweden have a resident embassy while seven EU Member States have an Honorary Consul (Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ireland, and Poland).
Italy, Germany, Sweden, Romania and France attended the recent Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) in a milestone development that speaks to the thawing relations between Zimbabwe and the EU, riding on President Mnangagwa’s policy of engagement and re-engagement.
Under the Second Republic, Zimbabwe’s foreign policy has seen a significant shift from isolation to engagement.
President Mnangagwa’s strategy has been to engage Zimbabwe’s neighbours, strengthen regional ties and re-set relations with traditional allies such as China, Russia, Britain, the United States of America, and the EU.
The EU had arguably the biggest stand at the just-ended ZITF showcasing a cross-section of projects that the bloc is implementing.
Speaking to journalists at the ZITF, Amb Kirchmann said there was room for matchmaking between Zimbabwean companies and the business community in the European bloc.
He said the EU is the biggest buyer of horticulture products from Zimbabwe with a trade volume of 700 million euros.
Amb Kirchmann said Zimbabwean companies can export any product to the EU duty and tariff-free.
“The stand focused on trade, informing companies about how they could trade with the EU. We have currently over 600 million Euros on ongoing projects and what we show here, because we cannot show all the projects, is particularly in support to the private sector, in particular agriculture-related projects,” he said.
“Team Europe initiatives focus on green and smart agriculture and on gender equality and women empowerment. We had to make a selection and we focused on these two areas, which I have just mentioned.”
Amb Kirchmann said the choice of projects is all related to drought.
“This is because it is such a difficult period and a lot can be done to do with mitigation and showing farmers a variety of crops to grow when there is no water to keep moisture on the fields for a long time,” he said.
Amb Kirchmann said projects are in health, education, the flagship Global Gateway Campaign Project on the rehabilitation of the Kariba Dam, agriculture giving direct support to farmers to diversify, leather value chain and handcrafts, cultural projects and others.
Amb Kirchmann said the trade fair provided a platform for networking and reaching out to the private sector to showcase what the EU has to offer.
“We are nine resident ambassadors in Harare and six are present and so that’s a very big ratio as we have for the first time six EU member states being present here. Hopefully, in the coming years, we will be able to bring European companies here so that they can see what goes on and we have matchmaking with local companies,” he said.
Amb Kirchmann said the EU launched the campaign #Silani Tinemi EU Rescue all over the country targeting youth and identified Ms Rumbi Takawira, a local journalist as its ambassador.
He said the European Union has a free trade agreement with Zimbabwe yet the agreement was being underused as many companies were not aware of the facility.
“We are here to increase trade and trade is possible if you have solid investment. The EU has the biggest global trade market in the world and we are confident that in the next year there could be more,” he said.
Romania Charge d’Affairs Alexandru Irimia said there were vast opportunities for Zimbabwe in his country and the EU.
He said ZITF was top priority for all EU member states including those that did not attend.
“This fair was top priority for all the Embassies from the EU. I think next year you would have a surprise to have EU member states, which are not represented in Harare coming to the Trade Fair,” he said.
Germany Ambassador Udo Volz said his country had enjoyed working in the country particularly promoting gender equality and cultural activities.
He invited Zimbabwean companies wishing to set up shop in Germany or Europe to take advantage of the investment environment.
Italy Ambassador Umberto Malnati said his country is implementing several projects through the Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund that provide start-up capital and several Zimbabwean companies have benefited.
“We are showcasing what we are doing in Zimbabwe and focusing on economic development to strengthen ties with Africa and Zimbabwe in particular,” he said.
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