The Sunday News
Harare Bureau
ZIMBABWE will set up Bi-National Commissions (BNCs) with all Sadc member states to ratchet up the country’s diplomatic engagement in the region, Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Dr Sibusiso Moyo has said.
The country will also focus on increasing inter-Africa trade to further unlock economic opportunities that exist within the continent.
Presently, Zimbabwe has BNCs with South Africa, Botswana and Tanzania, which have helped enhance political and economic ties.
BNC’s are considered high-level diplomatic engagements as they are superintended by Heads of State.
They also address key areas of co-operation across the political, economic and social spectrum.
Addressing a seminar for ambassadors-designate and diplomatic officers in Harare last week, Dr Moyo said Zimbabwe, which is a founding member of Sadc, will continue to fully subscribe to the ideals and programmes of the 16-member bloc.
“Within the region, we have already elevated our bilateral relations with South Africa, Botswana and Tanzania to Bi-National Commission status, meaning that it is the Heads of State themselves who jointly chair and oversee the relationship. And our intention, moving forward, is to attain the same status with all Sadc partners.”
Dr Moyo said President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who is the chairperson of the Sadc Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Co-operation, had won praise from the region over his leadership of the Organ, culminating in the historic support that Zimbabwe received from Sadc member states on lifting sanctions imposed on Harare by the West.
“Zimbabwe’s position in this crucial post has drawn widespread praise at both Sadc and AU (African Union) levels as a result of our successful oversight of the electoral processes of Botswana, Mauritius, Mozambique and Namibia.
“The practical impact of this ramped-up engagement with the region was amply demonstrated when the entire leadership of the region took the decision to designate October 25 each year as a day of solidarity with regard to the call for immediate removal of sanctions against our country,” he said.
On the basis of the stance taken by Sadc, other international groups such as the AU, Non-Aligned Movement, G-77, the ACP and China have expressed similar solidarity with Zimbabwe on the issue of sanctions, Dr Moyo noted.
In addition to Zimbabwe’s active participation in the Sadc Free Trade Area and its leading role towards the realisation of the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA), the country also ratified the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
AfCFTA is the ultimate building block towards an eventual common market covering all 54 African countries, with a combined population of 1,3 billion and a collective GDP of US$2,5 trillion.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade has been tasked with championing rapprochement and re-engagement with Western countries, including international financial institutions from which Zimbabwe has been estranged for the past two decades.
“The main objective of the re-engagement process is to normalise all aspects of the country’s relations with the West. These include ending Zimbabwe’s estrangement from the western world; and reopening lines of communication at the political level to achieve the removal of sanctions and all other punitive measures imposed on Zimbabwe in order to unleash the country’s full economic potential; to restore confidence in our national economic policies,” he said.
Government’s diplomacy is now focusing primarily on trade, investment and tourism promotion.
The diaspora is also being actively engaged to contribute to the development of the country through accessing investment opportunities and providing skills and expertise to key sectors of the economy.
