HARARE: Investors should come to Zimbabwe as the country is now ready for investment, officials at a business conference held in the capital yesterday said.
Speaking at the Zimbabwe Outward Trade and Investment Mission titled #InvestInZim yesterday, Industry and Commerce minister Mike Bimha said the interaction between the business community showed that investors now have confidence in Zimbabwe. The South African trade mission to Zimbabwe was organised by Mail & Guardian Africa and the Zimbabwean embassy in South Africa as a follow-up visit to the first meeting held last month in Johannesburg.
“The message we want you to carry is that Zimbabwe is ready for investment and we are doing all we can to see that investments come to the country,” he said adding that the country was ready to engage more investors.
Bimha said the government was also working on a private-public partnership (PPP) framework that will see the issue of PPPs being clarified.
Zimbabwe has been failing to attract significant Foreign Direct Investment since 2009 while neighbours such as South Africa and Zambia enjoy the lion’s share of investment inflows into Sadc. Last year, Zimbabwe recorded inflows of US$545 million, the highest since the country embraced a multi-currency regime in 2009, but far behind neighbours such as South Africa and Mozambique.
Caledonia Mining Corporation chief executive officer Steve Curtis said the new government in Zimbabwe was pragmatic and pro-business.
“Recent measures have been implemented by the Zimbabwean government to improve the operating environment for gold producers,” he said. Curtis said the company has realised significant working capital benefit from selling to Fidelity Printers.
Speaking at the same function Deputy minister of Mines Fred Moyo said government has gone into four bilateral arrangements for extensive mineral exploration and the exploration will be for close to four years.
