Mnangagwa goes for Yuan

via Mnangagwa goes for Yuan | The Herald July 9, 2015

Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa yesterday proposed to have the Chinese currency, the RMB/Yuan, as a legal tender in Zimbabwe when he met his Chinese counterpart Mr Li Yuanchao behind closed doors at the iconic Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

VP Mnangagwa, who is on an official five-day visit to China at the invitation of Mr Li, said such a development would ease and boost business transactions between the two countries.

A senior official in VP Mnangagwa’s office, who attended the meeting, but declined to be named, said the VP asked Chinese businesspeople through his counterpart to claim stakes in Zimbabwe’s key economic areas of Special Economic Zones, energy, road and railway network development, tourism, manufacturing and information and communication technology.

In response, Mr Li pledged to avail to Zimbabwe all the necessary support to rebuild the country’s economy.

Later on, VP Mnangagwa told the China Central Television that he exchanged political and economic notes with Mr Li and pledged commitment to fulfil agreements for the mega deals signed last August in Beijing between President Mugabe and his Chinese counterpart Mr Xi Jinping.

Mr Li also held a banquet in honour of VP Mnangagwa and his delegation which includes Industry and Trade Minister Mike Bimha, Small and Medium Enterprises Minister Sithembiso Nyoni, Zanu-PF Deputy Secretary for Youth Affairs Cde Kudzi Chipanga and other senior Government officials.

VP Mnangagwa later toured Chinese telecommunications giant, ZTE Corporation and held a private meeting with one of the Communist Party of China’s longest serving member and Chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Mr Yu Zhengsheng.

VP Mnangagwa has now arrived in Qingdao City and is expected to tour construction projects and management of industrial parks and Foreign Direct Investment attraction, as well as hold meetings with local business people.