Harare. – Zimbabwe welcomed the first British trade delegation in up to 20 years on Tuesday, as the cash-strapped country said it would welcome investment from anywhere in the world.
Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa hailed the visit as “the first step in our normalisation of relations between the United Kingdom and Zimbabwe.”
Britain — the colonial master of Zimbabwe until 1980 — has had fraught relations with President Robert Mugabe’s government, battling over rights abuses and London-backed sanctions.
Relations have been so bad that few seem to remember when the last official British trade visit was in Harare.
“It’s a first visit that has taken place by British trade delegation for many years probably in 20 years,” said Chinamasa.
The British embassy said it was the first delegation “in many years.”
Zimbabwe’s government, faced with a liquidity crunch, sclerotic growth and decades of crisis and underinvestment, has increasingly sought to tap investors wherever they can be found.
“Zimbabwe is open to investment from any quarter, from any part of the world,” said Chinamasa. “They must feel welcome now and in the future.”
The five-member British delegation comprised officials from British Expertise, Ecorys, Turner and Townsend, Roughton International and WYG International.
Zimbabwe and the UK relations soured after Harare took over white-owned farms to give to local blacks, a measure Mugabe claimed was meant to correct colonial land imbalances.
Amid a series of violent and allegedly rigged elections. the European Union imposed sanctions including travel bans and asset freezes on Mugabe and members of his inner circle.
Many investors fear further expropriation is possible if Zimbabwe’s 90-year-old ruler finds it politically expedient.
As if to underscore those fears, Mugabe opened parliament on Tuesday warning that locals who front for foreign firms trying to dodge indigenisation laws face “decisive action.”
Meanwhile, Chinamasa said Zimbabwe was making efforts to clarify regulations that compel all foreign owned firms to cede majority stakes to locals.
“There is no investor who will come to an environment where the investment is not secure. We have to create a conducive environment to attract investors to come to our country,” he said.
“London is at the centre of global finance. If you are looking for money you go to where you can stitch deals. So the visit of this trade delegation is to unlock us those avenues,” he said.
Britain’s ambassador to Zimbabwe, Catriona Laing, said the British trade delegation was mainly concerned about the security of investment in the country.
“If you are putting money into the country and you want to ensure you can get a return, that your assets will be secure and if you did have a dispute that the rule of law prevails,” she said.- AFP
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