WASHINGTON DC, United States – ZIMBABWE is becoming the shining star of Africa and can be pivotal in the realisation of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), International Trade Centre (ITC) executive director, Ms Pamela Coke-Hamilton has said.
The ITC is a joint agency of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTD) and the World Trade Organisation (WTO) responsible for trade and international business development.
In Zimbabwe, ITC has been working with ZimTrade in different sectors of the economy, especially horticulture where exports have boomed since the inception of the Second Republic, riding on President Mnangagwa’s “Zimbabwe is Open for Business” policy.
Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the US-Africa summit in Washington DC, Ms Hamilton said there are vast opportunities for Zimbabwe and her organisation, through SheTrade which is specifically targeting to empower women by unlocking opportunities in lucrative markets.
“Zimbabwe has been one of the shining stars in Africa for a long time, there are bumps here and there on the road, but I think that’s true of any country.
“We believe Zimbabwe can be a major hope for the development of Africa and the realisation of the African continental free trade area so I think it is important to empower and facilitate Zimbabwe’s continued leadership in that area,” she said.
After meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Ambassador Frederick Shava, Ms Hamilton said in partnership with ZimTrade, ITC will continue marketing brand Zimbabwe to the European Union, the US, and the United Kingdom.
Specifically, she pointed to President Mnangagwa’s Engagement and Re-engagement policy for opening up new avenues for the country.
“We are looking at, how do we expand what has already been done and how well Zimbabwe has been doing in the re-engagement process and the reintegration with so many other partner countries, the EU, UK, US, all are open and ready to work with Zimbabwe and we want to be part of that. We think we can work with the Minister and his leadership to also look at the agenda: women’s empowerment, we have already launched SHEexport but we want to launch a full-scale SHEtrade in Zimbabwe that will actually embody the work that will do with women, the empowerment, training, skills and even investments,” Ms Hamilton said.
Apart from empowering women, she said ITC is also interested in commercial diplomacy.
“We are looking at how we work with Zimbabwe’s Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry to improve the commercial diplomacy element so that they are able to take advantage of the agreements that are being signed,” Ms Hamilton said.
Ambassador Shava said Zimbabwe is ready to strengthen partnerships with organisations like ITC and leapfrog the country’s economic development through people-oriented projects.
“They have assisted us in exposing ZimTrade to a number of markets and technicalities which enhance the export capacity of Zimtrade and in this respect they want to assist Zimbabwe to play a major role in exporting horticulture products to the United Kingdom and to other possible countries that may want to buy similar products, we look forward to inviting them to Zimbabwe,” said Amb Shava.
Zimtrade operations director, Mr Similo Nkala, who is also part of Ambassador Shava’s delegation, said they are reaping huge rewards from President Mnangagwa’s Engagement and Re-engagement foreign policy.
“As ZimTrade we want to take advantage of our engagement and re-engagement strategy that Government is doing by exploring export market opportunities that are available for Zimbabwean companies,” he said. – The Herald
