Zim-EU Business Info Centre to be inaugurated

27 Jul, 2014 - 04:07 0 Views

The Sunday News

The Zimbabwe-European Business Information Centre (Zim-EBIC) will be inaugurated in Harare on Friday jointly by the Minister of Industry and Commerce Cde Mike Bimha, and the Head of the European Union Delegation in Zimbabwe, Ambassador Aldo Dell’Ariccia.
This follows the successful launch of the €3 million facility in February by the European Union to support the Trade and Private Sector Development Programme (TPSDP) in Zimbabwe.

In a statement, ZimTrade chief executive officer Ms Sithembile Pilime commended the EU for the noble initiative to prop up trade between Zimbabwe and the EU, particularly given the prevailing subdued economic scenario.

Zim-EBIC will be housed within ZimTrade, forming an integral part of the Trade Information Centre.
The facility aims at increasing the capacity of local exporters to the EU to establish mutually beneficial linkages with their European counterparts.

She said the facility was part of a bigger project on capacity building through upgrading the Trade Information Centre, redesigning the ZimTrade website, training ZimTrade staff and reviewing the Export Marketing Training Programme that imparts relevant skills, particularly to emerging SME exporters.

She said the Zim-EBIC platform would enhance knowledge sharing on thematic areas such as: EU Market Intelligence; EU Business Cultures (communication); EU Trade Fairs; ESA-EU interim Economic Partnership Agreement (ESA-iEPA); GSP; Tariffs; NTBs; Standards Quality Management; and opportunistic use of Experts from EU Member States as well as experienced Zimbabwean entrepreneurs (peer-to-peer coaching).

“We are excited that the Zim-EBIC is finally coming to fruition. This is indeed a landmark achievement, which will boost mutually beneficial trade between Zimbabwe and the EU,” she said.

Ms Pilime said the involvement of the International Trade Centre (ITC) Geneva, as the Implementing Agency, was encouraging given the experience and expertise they have in the field of trade development.

“ZimTrade will leverage on this ITC knowledge resource to build internal capacity to better service our clients and to ensure sustainability beyond the project tenure,” added Ms Pilime.

EU Member States ambassadors within Zimbabwe, business member organisations as well as captains of industry, are expected to grace this occasion.

ITC executive director Ms Arancha González is going to be part of the delegation, demonstrating the significance of this initiative.
ZimTrade said it was optimistic that Zim-EBIC would lead to the transformation of its Trade Information Centre.

The initiative is expected to reposition and strengthen ZimTrade’s role as the national trade development and export promotion entity that provides a high quality, client needs-driven trade information to the Zimbabwean export sector, among other services.

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