Source: The Herald – Breaking news
Farirai Machivenyika
Senior Reporter
BRITISH Ambassador to Zimbabwe Melanie Robinson yesterday met President Mnangagwa at State House in Harare where she briefed him on the arrangements pertaining to the coronation of King Charles III on May 6 in London.
President Mnangagwa has been invited for the coronation, which will take place at Westminster Abbey.
During the ceremony, King Charles III will be crowned alongside his wife Camilla, the Queen Consort.
The King ascended to the throne following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, in September last year.
A coronation is both the symbolic religious ceremony during which a sovereign is crowned and the physical act of placing a crown on a monarch’s head.
It formalises the monarch’s role as the Head of the Church of England and marks the transfer of their title and powers.
Ambassador Robinson said they also discussed other issues on trade and investment between Zimbabwe and the United Kingdom.
“Yes, I had a good meeting with the President of Zimbabwe. I had the opportunity to talk to him about the arrangements for the coronation of His Majesty the King, to which the President has been invited and has accepted that invitation and will be travelling to London for that,” she said.
“We also discussed trade and investment including the recent investments by a UK company, NMS, in clinics and hospitals here and I talked about the UK going to be at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair, in a couple of weeks’ time in Bulawayo.
“We also had time to discuss the elections and the President committed to them being free, fair and transparent, which I welcomed and we also discussed a range of other issues of mutual interest for our countries.”
Last month, the President said the invitation to attend King Charles III’s coronation added a positive chapter to Zimbabwe’s bilateral relations with the UK.
The Second Republic, under President Mnangagwa’s leadership, has prioritised a policy of engagement and re-engagement with the West, which has resulted in a thawing of relations with the UK and other Western nations.
NMS Infrastructure, a British company, has entered into an agreement with the Government that will see the construction of five 60-bed district hospitals, and a further 22 new health centres, each with 20 beds and staff accommodation, across all 10 provinces within the next three years.
Already, the Stoneridge Health Centre has been completed and is now functional.
Another clinic constructed under the same arrangement that has been completed is in Cowdray Park suburb, Bulawayo.
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