Source: President arrives in Madagascar | The Herald October 18, 2016
Morris Mkwate in Antananarivo, Madagascar
President Mugabe arrived here last night to attend the 19th Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa Heads of State and Government Summit that begins today.He was welcomed at Ivato International Airport in Antananarivo by Madagascar President Mr Hery Rajaonarimampianina and Zimbabwean Government officials who were part of the advance team.
The President travelled with senior Government officials and then linked up with Ministers Simbarashe Mumbengegwi (Foreign Affairs) and Mike Bimha (Industry and Commerce), who were attending preparatory meetings here since last week.
He was seen off at Harare International Airport by Vice-Presidents Emmerson Mnangagwa and Phelekezela Mphoko, Cabinet Ministers, senior civil servants and service chiefs.
Meanwhile VP Mnangagwa is Acting President.
Minister Bimha told The Herald; “The Summit will mainly look at inclusive and sustainable industrialisation.
“The industrialisation agenda is now the major focus in Africa; even regional integration is revolving around the same subject.
“It is the way to go, and Africa is saying, ‘Let’s utilise our people and resources towards value-addition and beneficiation’. If we industrialise and export, our economies will grow.
“This trajectory runs through the entire regional thrust and across Africa. And when we say inclusive, we are involving everyone: governments, women, businesses; etcetera.”
Themed “Inclusive and Sustainable Industrialisation”, the Summit will discuss regional peace and security, customs and trade, homing in on the comesa, Tripartite and Continental free trade areas.
It will also consider the Medium Term Strategic Plan (2016-2020) adopted by the comesa Council of Ministers on October 15, 2016 with a view to spurring structural economic transformation via trade, investment and infrastructure development.
The comesa FTA provides duty and quota — free market access to Member States on products originating in the region.
Criteria known as Rules of Origin ensure processed goods or those wholly manufactured within the 19-member grouping get preferential tariffs across borders.
Zimbabwe and 14 other Member States are participating in the FTA whose benefits and impediments will soon be assessed and published annually.
That assessment will cover trade in goods and services, logistics and trade facilitation, industrialisation and infrastructure development.
A recent study by the comesa secretariat established that the region trades more externally than internally.
It determined that the trade potential value that could enhance intra-comesa product trade was US$82,3 billion, and that trade within the region would increase by $41,15 billion if 50 percent of external business were channelled inwards.
The Tripartite FTA operates along similar lines, integrating three of Africa’s regional blocs — comesa, sadc and the East African Community — and a continental FTA has been proposed to accommodate all 54 African Union states.
At the inter-government committee meeting here last week, Madagascar’s Trade and Consumption Minister Armand Tazafy said industrialisation was key to integrated trade.
“Without sustainable industrialisation, our region cannot adequately respond to the ever-increasing needs of high value products with the rising middle class in our continent, which has been forced to source elsewhere.”
COMMENTS
Another waste of money. Fly & spend while the country dies. I think this idiot is addicted to flying.
What a joke! How can a dictator of a failed African country help industrialisation in Africa?
With 90% unemployment in Zimbabwe, what’s he going to do show them how not to destroy a country.
Truly, a complete waste of money, and the story is a load of rubbish and gibberish. Does this old grandpa really know what the conference is all about? Can the present leaders of Zimbabwe tell these guys in Madagascar how things should be done? Shame on you, ZanuPF for sending this old man to a completely useless meaningless conference.
Another wasteful gallivant by our glorious leader and all his hangers on!!!
I see that this article reports that Minister Mike Bimha told the Herald that, “The summit will mainly look at inclusive and sustainable industrialisation.
This got me thinking as to why Mugabe would even want to attend a conference which was looking at inclusive and sustainable industrialisation. Even the smallest child knows that he has been the Master in Chief in destroying all of Zimbabwe’s industries.
Perhaps the old fool does not know what sustainable means, so I think that he should be told that it means, among other things, “suitable, appropriate, acceptable, fitting, fit, correct, proper, desirable preferable, ideal, well suited, well qualified.”
Perhaps the old goat got confused between sustainable, and unsustainable.
Unsustainable describes exactly what he has done to our Zimbabwe industries, in that it means, “unsuitable, tiring, unendurable, unsuitable, brief, fleeting, temporary and wastefulness”.
These are more his line of business and he should not be in the same room as people talking about sustainable industrialisation.
Perhaps next time we can talk about “inclusive” as this concept is even stranger to Mugabe than “sustainable”.