‘Zim Headed for New Economic Trajectory’

via allAfrica.com: Zimbabwe: ‘Zim Headed for New Economic Trajectory’ 29 January 2015

The visiting French business delegation yesterday expressed willingness to invest in the country saying Zimbabwe is now heading towards a new economic trajectory that comes with new investment opportunities.

They said the visit was an exploratory one mainly aimed at discovering opportunities in the Energy, Power, Infrastructure and Water sectors.

COBASA chairman Mr Henri De Villeneuve yesterday told the Herald Business that the prevailing investment environment is the most ideal and French investors should grab the opportunity at a time when other investors are running away.

He said COBASA is an investment consultation company based in South Africa and has been facilitating different French investment deals in Zimbabwe for a long time.

“It is quite shrewd to enter an investment environment like Zimbabwe when the robot is still red then you wait for things to change while already on the ground. We are quite confident of Zimbabwe because of its rich human resource to vast natural resources for use in the industry,” said Mr De Villeneuve.

This is one of the biggest delegations from Europe in years, with analysts saying this demonstrated huge appetite foreigners have on Zimbabwe’s investment opportunities.

Some of the companies represented include Alstom, the global leader in power generation, power transmission and rail infrastructure. It has operations in 100 countries.

Bureau VERITAS, a quality inspection firm is also represented and is expected start operating in the country during the first quarter of this year. The Consignment Based Conformity Assessment Agreement between the Government and Bureau VERITAS aims to curb influx of cheap imports through inspection of goods entering the country.

Another company represented, Egis, a consulting and engineering group working in the fields of construction for transport, urban development, buildings, industry, water, the environment and energy is also represented. The group is also involved in project financing, tolling, road and airport operations.

Another big company represented is VINCI Construction Grands Projects involved in design and building of major civil engineering structures such as tunnels, bridges, dams, liquefied natural gas storage tanks, road and rail infrastructure and buildings (skyscrapers, shopping malls, hotels and major industrial facilities). VINCI Construction Regional Representative Gwil Owen said the company has made inroads in terms of what Zimbabwe investment environment looks like.

“This was just an exploratory visit and we have managed to meet the African Development Bank and we expressed our interest in contributing to the ZimFund in a bid to improve the lives of the local people.

“We have been involved in Lake Kariba dam wall rehabilitation and going forward we hope to keep working with the Government of Zimbabwe in rehabilitating more dams in the country,” said Mr Owen.

He said Zimbabwe is ideal to French investments because it is strategically positioned for any investment to be successful.

France was among the countries which the Confederation Industries of Zimbabwe visited early last year, to amplify Governments re-engagement efforts with the European Union.

The French business delegation is led by MEDEF International which is the most representative organisation of the French private sector at an international level.

It represents the French Business Confederation and its 800 000 companies in the world.