Zimbabwe’s national development plan will continue to attract support from China anchored on the two countries’ excellent bilateral relations, Charge d’Affaires and Minister Counsellor for the Chinese embassy in Zimbabwe Mr Cheng Yan has said.
Mr Cheng said this after paying a courtesy call on Vice President and Minister of Health and Child Care Dr Constantino Chiwenga.
With Chinese President Xi Jinping having announced the soon to be implemented Global Development Initiative through which China hopes to support the achievement of all 17 of the United Nations’ 1sustainable development goals in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Mr Cheng said Zimbabwe can look forward to benefiting from such and many other Chinese initiatives.
VP Chiwenga noted the excellent ties between the two countries which dates back during the days of the liberation struggle.
“We are comprehensive strategic friends who share views, ideas and China is the biggest investor in the country, be it in energy, be it in agriculture, be it in health, be it mining,” said VP Chiwenga after meeting the Chinese delegation.
“They have done quite a lot so we share ideas. China played a major role in the independence of Zimbabwe, we would not be talking of our independence if China had not come on board.
“Our President was trained in China in 1963 to 1964 and I am also a Peoples Liberation Army product and so we have a lot to share with China. so we were just sharing ideas with the Charge de’ Affairs,” said VP Chiwenga.
Mr Cheng said mutually beneficial cooperation will always guide Zimbabwe and China’s interactions.
He also called for the removal of the illegal sanctions placed on Zimbabwe by the United States and other western countries.
“China is committed to continue supporting every effort from Zimbabwe to develop this country,” said Mr Cheng.
“To improve the livelihood for the Zimbabwean people, China supports the efforts by the Zimbabwean government and its people to remove all the illegal sanctions from the western countries without any conditions.
“In the coming years China will implement very important initiatives like the Global Development Initiative.
“Through our bilateral framework China will continue to implement project cooperation in Zimbabwe,” said Mr Cheng.
VP Chiwenga also met Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Zimbabwe DO Bong-kae at his office who was accompanied by outgoing Director of Korea Partnership for Innovation of Agriculture (KOPIA) Zimbabwe centre Dr Choi Young Sup.
Vice President and Minister of Health and Child Care Dr Constantino Chiwenga welcomes Korea Programme for International Cooperation in Agricultural Technology director Choi Young Sup during a courtesy call in Harare yesterday.
In the meeting also attended by the chief executive officer and director general of the Scientific and Industrial Research and Development Centre (SIRDC) Professor Robson Mafoti, discussions were held on improving agricultural collaboration as well as the rural industrialisation drive KOPIA is partnering with SIRDC.
“We have just had the meeting with the Korean Ambassador to Zimbabwe and Dr Choi who has been working with SIRDC under Professor Robson Mafoti,” said VP Chiwenga after meeting the Korean delegation.
“Dr Choi has been here and is now returning back home but he has done great work for SIRDC.
“They had a programme in Chishaka Village (in Hwedza) for rural development and empowering our rural people by training them and funding for the funding for the rearing of chicken, growing of horticulture products, drought resistant maize and also the provision of clean water,” said VP Chiwenga. Ambassador Bong-kae said they discussed agricultural collaboration with VP Chiwenga.
“Priority number one of our cooperation is the agricultural area. Since the establishment of KOPIA in SIRDC the KOPIA centre has played an important role in upgrading our agricultural cooperation.
“The Vice President mentioned the need to further enhance our cooperation in the area and we agreed and we are doing our best to upgrade our agriculture cooperation,” said Ambassador Bon-kae. – The Herald
