Maravi

(TALKZIMBABWE) Biti meets US govt officials

Biti meets US govt officials
Reuters/TZG
Fri, 24 Apr 2009 20:18:00 +0000

FINANCE Minister Tendai Biti met senior U.S. diplomats on Friday in a move dismissed by the State Department as a sign that the United States is about to open up the flow of aid to Zimbabwe. Biti saw Under Secretary of State William Burns and Mary Jo Wills, acting deputy assistant secretary of state for African Affairs.

A report from the State Department said Washington was weighing whether Zimbabwe's new inclusive Government has implemented enoughreforms for significant U.S. aid to kick in.

"This meeting does not signal any kind of change. There are a number of things we have to see yet," State Department spokesman Robert Wood told Reuters before the meeting.

"We want to see how the government is making progress on democratic reforms, economic reforms and then we will make a decision on whether we want to provide significant development assistance," he added.

Wood said the U.S. government wanted to get a sense of the financial situation in Zimbabwe and steps the inclusive Government is taking to reverse the free fall of the economy.

Biti was in Washington for meetings of the IMF and World Bank.

In a message to the Zimbabwean people last weekend, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton commended the inclusive Government for progress in implementing reforms, but said more should be done.

U.S. officials say there are no immediate plans either to lift targeted U.S. sanctions or give major aid until there is firm evidence that President Robert Mugabe is serious about sharing power with former opposition leader and current Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai.

The two formed an inclusive Government in February following the signing of a Global Political Agreement on Sept. 15, 2008..

President Mugabe has blamed his country's economic collapse on Western sanctions but the United States and others counter that the cause of financial decline was his own mismanagement.

- Reuters/TZG

Labels: HILLARY CLINTON, SANCTIONS, TENDAI BITI

posted by MrK @ 2:20 PM