The second Structured Dialogue Platform meeting between Government, creditors and development partners to discuss economic and governance reforms to anchor the arrears clearance and debt resolution process, will be held in Harare next week, Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube has said.
The meeting will be held on Thursday. It will be co-chaired by former Mozambican President Joachim Chissano and African Development Bank president Dr Akinwumi Adesina.
Former President Chissano is expected in Zimbabwe tomorrow ahead of the meetings that will run from Monday to Friday.
President Mnangagwa last year appointed former President Chissano as the high-level facilitator of the arrears clearance and debt resolution process, while Dr Adesina was appointed champion of the process.
Zimbabwe owes US$14 billion to multilateral financial institutions, bilateral partners, and other creditors.
Resolution of the debt is vital in the country’s quest for economic development.
Said Prof Ncube in a statement yesterday: “The Government of Zimbabwe in December 2022 established a Structured Dialogue Platform with all creditors and development partners, in order to institutionalise structured dialogue on economic and governance reforms to underpin the arrears clearance and debt resolution process.
“This is in line with the following priorities of the National Development Strategy (NDS)1 (2021-2025): Economic growth and stability, image building, international engagement and re-engagement, and governance.”
“The inaugural Structured Dialogue Platform meeting was successfully held last year in December and the meeting agreed on three pillars for implementation, namely economic reforms, governance reforms, and land tenure and compensation of white former commercial farm owners, including the resolution of Bilateral Investment Protection and Promotion Agreements (BIPPAs).
“The meeting also agreed to operationalise the economic growth and stability, and governance sector working groups (SWGs), where specific reforms and timelines will be discussed and agreed upon. The specific reforms will be included in the economic and governance reform matrices.
“The economic and governance sector working groups will feed into the Structured Dialogue Platform meetings and the High-Level Debt Resolution Forum.
“The economic growth and stability sector working group met on the 12th of January 2023, while the governance sector working group met on the 2nd of February 2023.”
The economic growth and stability sector working group is co-chaired by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, while the governance sector working group is co-chaired by the Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs and the European Union.
“The two SWGs meetings resulted in the preparation of draft matrices of economic and governance reforms,” said Prof Ncube.
“These reforms, sector performance indicators and targets are based on the NDS1 results framework.
“The economic and governance reform matrices will be presented and discussed during the second structured Dialogue Platform meeting scheduled for February 23, 2023.” – The Herald
