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(HERALD) Zim, SA relations firm — envoy

Zim, SA relations firm — envoy
Wednesday, 08 June 2011 23:19
Herald Reporter

RELATIONS between Zimbabwe and South Africa remain cordial and firm despite spirited efforts by Western Governments to divide the two neighbours and the entire Sadc bloc, incoming South African Ambassador to Zimbabwe Mr Vusi Mavimbela has said.

Mr Mavimbela was responding to questions from journalists after presenting his credentials to President Mugabe at State House alongside incoming Korean, Russian and Turkish ambassadors to Zimbabwe.

Although Mr Mavimbela refused to discuss issues regarding the forthcoming Sadc extraordinary summit to be held in South Africa on Saturday, he said relations between Harare and Pretoria remained warm and sound.

"Relations between Zimbabwe and South Africa are very good. Relations between President Jacob Zuma and President Mugabe are very good and that is the most important thing in all this," he said.

Ambassador Mavimbela's remarks come in the wake of claims in some sections of the media that after failing to attend the Sadc Summit in Windhoek, Namibia, last month, President Zuma wanted to humiliate President Mugabe at Saturday's Sadc summit.

Ambassador Mavimbela said the South African mediation team on Zimbabwe's inter party dialogue was committed to play its mandate as assigned by Sadc.

"South Africa is committed to that process. We believe that the fact that there are some papers on the table that are going to be presented and that parties have agreed to a number of issues and a few things are still sticking is a sign that we have made progress," he said.

Before being posted to Zimbabwe as SA's chief diplomat, Mr Mavimbela was the director-general in President Zuma's Office.

New Korean ambassador to Zimbabwe Mr Lew Kwang-Chul told journalists after presenting his credentials that his country was keen to invest in mining, agriculture and infrastructural development.

"We want to strengthen our ties in political and economic areas. We are interested in the mining sector, infrastructure constructional development, agriculture and ICT. We had a very fruitful and constructive meeting with His Excellency the President, sharing ideas. He (President Mugabe) knew very well the areas where Korea has advantages and strong points and this is where our conversation was very useful," he said.

New Russian Ambassador Mr Andrey Anatolyevich Kushakov said: "We had fruitful discussions with His Excellency and I cherished his idea that we must be proud of our political inter exchange and we boost our economic relations.

"We discussed how to do that in future for the benefit of both the Zimbabwean and Russian people."

He said his country was interested in investing energy and mining sectors.

Last to present credentials to President Mugabe was the Turkish Ambassador to Zimbabwe Mr Kemal Demirciler.

Turkey is opening its mission in Zimbabwe after operating from South Africa for a long time.

Mr Demirciler said his country was ready to strengthen relations with Harare in many areas of co-operation, adding that he wanted more time to study the Zimbabwean environment before embarking on specific projects.

"For long we have had diplomatic relations with the Republic of Zimbabwe. Our embassy in Pretoria was covering most of the countries including Zimbabwe. Our Government decided to open up embassies in Southern Africa and this is a political directive from my Government," he said.

Labels: SADC, SOUTH AFRICA, ZIMBABWE

posted by MrK @ 6:53 PM