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‘Deal with economic challenges’ (THE HERALD)

‘Deal with economic challenges’
From Victoria Ruzvidzo in BULAWAYO

GOVERNMENT and the private sector should forge a strong and genuine partnership to deal with economic challenges facing the country, President Mugabe has said. Officially opening the 48th Zimbabwe International Trade Fair here yesterday, Cde Mugabe challenged Zimbabweans to move away from the "business as usual" approach in addressing socio-economic challenges, emphasising the need for a paradigm shift and a reformed mindset across the board.

"As we implement economic turnaround strategies, our challenge, as a nation, is to remain resolutely committed to the programme and the consolidation of a strong and genuine partnership of all stakeholders on the basis of a win-win situation.

"There is, thus, need to subordinate narrow sectarian interests to the broader national good," said President Mugabe.

There was need for the adoption of a synergistic and collaborative partnership instead of the confrontational approach demonstrated in some instances.

This year’s fair was taking place at a time when the economy was facing a number of challenges that had largely been aggravated by declared and undeclared sanctions by Western countries, resulting in the absence of balance of payments support, the stagnation of capital inflows and the escalation of prices of goods and services.

Recurrent droughts had compounded the situation.

However, President Mugabe said these challenges had strengthened the country’s resolve to forge ahead with the economic turnaround programme based on home-grown policies and experiences.

It was in this vain that the National Economic Development Priority Programme and the Look East Policy were regarded as the most important strategic interventions.

Significant progress had been made on the Look East policy with a number of investment projects funded by China now at stages of implementation in all key sectors of the economy.

A case in point was last week’s handover of hundreds of tractors and other agricultural machinery and equipment to the Zimbabwe Farmers’ World Corporation by the chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, Hon Jia Qinglin.

Agricultural inputs such as fertilizers, agro-chemicals and animal vaccines had also been received from China.

"Besides our trading partners in the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) and the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (Comesa), countries of Asia are fast becoming very important partners in trade and investment issues because of our Look East policy.

"Indeed, Zimbabwe has been able to broaden her horizons, and extend her frontiers in trade investment by embarking on various joint co-oporation projects on the basis of this policy," said President Mugabe.

The social contract, presently being negotiated by Government, business and labour, was expected to further buttress economic recovery efforts through enhanced confidence building and the harmonisation and stabilisation of prices and incomes.

Furthermore, Government was working towards enhancing productivity through capacitation of strategic companies in critical sectors of the economy with potential to generate exports and employment.

Toll manufacturing was another strategy adopted to boost capacity use and export generation.

The recent amalgamation of the Zimbabwe Investment Centre and the Export Processing Zones Authority into the Zimbabwe Investment Authority would also augur well for the economy.

The recently launched National Export Strategy, set to transform Zimbabwe from being a producer and exporter of primary commodities to a country that exported value- added products, would boost export earnings in traditional and new markets.

President Mugabe said this year’s ZITF, coming soon after the 27th Independence anniversary celebrations, was another festivity, as reflected by the continued growth and development which contributed to the rich tapestry of all economic endeavours that made up the country’s national economic programme.

President Mugabe toured some of the exhibition stands before officially opening the trade fair.

More than 730 exhibitors took part at this year’s fair, with 13 countries from the region and abroad also participating at the national showcase.

Bangladesh, Botswana, China, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Malaysia, Mozambique, Pakistan, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania and Zambia were the foreign exhibitors.

This reflected a 40 percent increase over last year’s participation.

The increased presence of small to medium businesses was reflective of the Government’s empowerment programmes.

"We, as Government and the people of Zimbabwe, take immense pride in this premier international trade exhibition that brings together exhibitors and business experiences from the length and breadth of the African continent and, indeed, from the rest of the world," said President Mugabe.

He commended the solidarity and continued support from exhibitors from Sadc, Comesa and beyond Africa, stressing that Zimbabwe was keen to work with genuine partners from the region and abroad.

"My Government remains ready to work with well-meaning co-operating partners from the region and internationally in the implementation of our economic recovery programme," he added.

Labels: BUSINESS, THE HERALD

posted by MrK @ 1:14 AM