The Sunday News
SOUTH African companies are keen to invest in more infrastructural projects in Zimbabwe following the successful completion of major road projects top among them the $206 million Plumtree to Mutare highway upgrade by Group Five.
In an interview on Friday, Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries president Mr Charles Msipa said the South Africa-Zimbabwe business forum held in Pretoria last week was fruitful with the South Africans set to make a follow-up visit to assess the said investment opportunities on the ground.
“The forum was well attended by business executives and organisations from South Africa and Zimbabwe and we were identifying the opportunities for investment by South African firms in Zimbabwe in various sectors including automotives, agriculture and agro-processing as well as textiles, mining, energy and tourism sectors,” said Mr Msipa who was part of the delegation that accompanied President Mugabe on a State visit to South Africa last week.
He said the opportunities would be followed up by the various companies and State enterprises with their relevant counterparts in South Africa.
Mr Msipa said besides the opportunities, the forum also identified specific bottlenecks and opportunities to increase the level of trade and exports from Zimbabwe to South Africa which technical teams from both countries would assess further.
“One of the issues that the Zimbabwe pharmaceuticals sector raised during the engagements with South African officials and business executives was the South African regulation requiring that drugs can only be transported to South Africa by airfreight which is an expensive mode of freight compared to road freight.
The matter will be considered by officials from South Africa’s Ministry of Trade and Industry together with their Zimbabwean counterparts,” he said.
Speaking on the achievement of the country’s economic blueprint, the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio Economic Transformation (Zim Asset), Mr Msipa said implementation of infrastructure projects under the blueprint was subject to securing funding and that some of the projects that were prioritised during engagements with the South Africans were those in power generation.
“South Africa is Zimbabwe’s largest trading partner and thus very important to Zimbabwe’s economy. We shall be following up on contacts established with South African business associations and executives at the forum to facilitate development of the various opportunities identified in the SA-Zimbabwe business forum.
The purpose of this forum was to establish these contacts and we managed to do that,” Mr Msipa said.
He, however, said Zimbabweans would not be sitting around waiting for investors but would focus on improving the ease of doing business for existing companies and new ones so as to create a more attractive environment for potential investors.
At least 10 major South African countries have invested in the country as the two countries not only share history but the economies are integrated and inter-related.
The Zimbabwean business delegation was in South Africa with President Mugabe who was on a State visit at the invitation of his counterpart President Jacob Zuma.
The two countries signed a number of bilateral agreements that are meant to improve trade and doing business between the two neighbours.
