Maravi

(TALKZIMBABWE) Zim, EU begin formal talks

Zim, EU begin formal talks
Ralph Mutema
Wed, 22 Jul 2009 03:52:00 +0000

ZIMBABWE will begin formal talks with the European Union this week, almost a decade after the block imposed illegal sanctions against Zimbabwe following a bilateral dispute between Zimbabwe and Britain. Critics say the dialogue might open doors for more financial support for Zimbabwe'a inclusive Government.

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai last month took an exploratory visit to Europe to re-engage with the bloc. Zimbabwe and the EU had their first meeting in Brussels after almost seven years.

Swedish Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Sten Rylander whose country holds the rotating EU presidency said he held fruitful preparatory meetings with the Zimbabwean authorities to lay the groundwork for the talks.

“Formal meetings might start before the end of the week,” he said this week.

“We are talking… its not that we are at a standstill.”

An EU troika — comprising Sweden, the EU representative to Zimbabwe Xavier Marchal and Spanish Ambassador Ms Pilar Fuertes — was set to meet with Zimbabwe’s technical team made up of the permanent secretaries of five ministries.

The Zimbabwean technical committee is chaired by Foreign Affairs Secretary Ambassador Joey Bimha.

The talks are to be held in the context of Article 8 of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement, which provides the parameters for engagement between the EU and the African, Caribbean and Pacific ( ACP) bloc.

The ACP bloc is expected to stand by Zimbabwe in the discussions as it has done since the EU prematurely invoked Article 96 of the Cotonou Agreement in 2002 to slap sanctions on Harare ahead of that year's presidential elections.

A 2007 study on the implementation of Article 96 of the Cotonou Agreement by the EU itself admitted that Europe had slapped the sanctions in a bid to manipulate the outcome of the 2002 Presidential elections and to punish Harare for embarking on the revolutionary land reform programme.

Zimbabwe says it needs at leads US$8 billion in the next three years to finance the reconstruction of the country after almost a decade of economic decline.

Hopes of a turnaround were raised in February when President Mugabe formed an inclusive Government with his arch rival, PM Tsvangirai after intense political infighting.

Six months after its installation, the inclusive Government has halted hyper inflation that peaked at a quadrillion per cent and put the economy on a recovery path.

Labels: EU, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, STEN RYLANDER, ZIMBABWE

posted by MrK @ 4:21 PM