Presidents Mnangagwa, Chapo in Bulawayo for ZITF opening

Source: The Herald – Breaking news.

 President Mnangagwa and his counterpart, President Daniel Chapo, follow proceedings at the State Banquet hosted in honour of the Mozambican leader in Bulawayo yesterday. — Picture: Eliah Saushoma

Rutendo Nyeve

PRESIDENT Mnangagwa and his Mozambican counterpart, Daniel Chapo, arrived in Bulawayo yesterday ahead of today’s official opening of the 65th edition of the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF).

President Chapo is the Guest of Honour at this year’s oversubscribed global expo and is scheduled to conduct a tour of stands at the Zimbabwe International Conference and Exhibition Smart City this morning before the official opening session in the afternoon.

President Mnangagwa had arrived earlier just after 3pm at the Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo International Airport and was received by his two deputies, Dr Constantino Chiwenga and Kembo Mohadi, Defence Minister Oppah Muchiguri-Kashiri, Bulawayo Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution Judith Ncube, several other ministers, service chiefs and hundreds of people.

President Chapo’s plane touched down just after 7pm and he was received by a high-profile delegation led by Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Professor Amon Murwira, Cabinet ministers, service chiefs and senior Government officials.

Speaking to the media soon after arrival, President Chapo said Zimbabwe and Mozambique share a lot of common interests and he will use the visit to strengthen bilateral relations and address challenges affecting the two nations.

“We are very happy to be here. You know that Zimbabwe is Mozambique and Mozambique is Zimbabwe. That is why we are here, to be together,” said President Chapo.

“This is very important to be together in unity, in order to be closer and stronger together. We have the same culture, we have the same challenges; be it political, economic or trading challenges.

“We want to be together to talk about business, to talk about trading, to talk about the political challenges and to talk about our economic challenges.”

President Chapo emphasised the need to strengthen trade riding on the already existing infrastructural networks.

“We are here to talk about trading, about commercial relations, political and economic relations between our people and between our countries. I think it’s very important to be here.

“You know that we have a Maputo-South Africa Corridor and we also have a Beira Corridor and the Beira Port, which are critical to our trade,” he said.

President Chapo was taken to State House where President Mnangagwa hosted a State Banquet in his honour last night. The event, which was attended by Cabinet Ministers, diplomats and business leaders, served as a platform for discussions on enhancing bilateral cooperation in trade, investment, and regional security.

The two Heads of State will have a hectic schedule today at the ZITF, where they are expected to interact with scores of local and foreign exhibitors whose increased participation has seen the hosts extend space, with 29 countries participating.

Countries participating at the ZITF include Afghanistan, Angola, Austria, Belarus, Botswana, Brazil, Canada, China, the European Union delegation, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, German, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Netherlands, Pakistan, Rwanda, South Africa, Sweden, Tanzania, the United Kingdom, the United States, the United Arab Emirates and Zambia.

Zimbabwe and Mozambique enjoy cordial bilateral relations dating back to pre-independence times and have blossomed over the years on the socio-economic and political front.

As described by Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to Mozambique, Victor Matemadanda, the new Mozambican President is a development-oriented leader who has had some educational training in Zimbabwe, making him multilingual as he is conversant in English, Portuguese, Shona and his native language.

“He is a Pan-Africanist because we talked a lot about the region. He is very clear on where Africa should be. When we were talking, I could sense that he is a regional leader in terms of operation and his appreciation of issues affecting the SADC region,” said Ambassador Matemadanda.

Meanwhile, the exhibition centre has been a hive of activity since commencement of the expo on Monday with intense sideline conferences and business to business engagements.

The increased participation at the ZITF confirms the Second Republic’s positive impact in transforming the economy and leading industrialisation in line with the National Development Strategy (NDS1), which builds the momentum towards Vision 2030.

According to the ZITF Company, over 600 exhibitors are participating at the expo, which runs under the theme: “Industrialisation: Crafting An Integrated Economic Landscape”.