By Martin Muleya
(News Of The South)- A Mozambican representative has assured business people and citizens of Zimbabwe not to lose sleep about their safety in the neighbouring country Mozambique, if they wish to invest there, adding that the country was peaceful.
Provincial Director of Tourism in Mozambique Fredson Bacar dismissed media reports that his country was enmeshed in a civil war between soldiers of the Renamo party led by Alfonso Dhlakama and Frelimo led by Anmaundo Guebuza in the Mushungwe district 200km from Save River.
The envoy who was on a two day visit to establish business connection particularly in tourism between the two countries refuted claims by the media reports adding that Mozambique and Zimbabwe shared a common history and should work together.
“Mozambique has no war. We are surprised to read in the papers of this so-called war. It is just in Mushungwe district where soldiers of Renamo and Frelimo had a clash some 200km to Save River. This area is currently the centre of controversy and government is negotiating with Renamo to end the conflict,” he said.
Bacar said he was glad to engage with Manicaland province in boosting tourism and infrastructure development adding that the door was wide open for foreign investors to invest in his country with no strings attached.
“We are satisfied with the growth and the way that Zimbabwe Tourism Authority has been marketing the image of this country. We wish to take a leaf from their activities that is why we have decided to engage them on a government to government through the Memorandum of Understanding that was signed on the 29th of November 2013.
“Manica Province has a population of 1,800,247 and has vast land and diverse landscape potential based on the natural habitat. We are inviting foreign investors into our country to help develop Mozambique and also spruce its image as a safe tourist destination.
“We want Zimbabweans to help us develop our infrastructure that was destroyed during the war. As government of Mozambique we are putting a lot of effort but we need people with expertise like Zimbabweans to develop our country. Mozambique law is very liberal and we will not impose projects on our foreign investors,”said Bacar.
The visit by the Mozambican consular was a fact finding mission following the signing off of the Memory of Understanding between the two countries.
The MOU which newsofthesouth has in possession seeks to create and enhance tourism relations between the two countries to boost economic growth through the development of their tourism sectors.
In the MOU the two parties sought to further marketing and promotional programmes, joint research and planning programmes and tourism investment promotion among others.
The Mozambican has already set the ball rolling as the six member delegation that toured some of the Tourism facilities in Manicaland province were satisfied with their findings and also urged their counterparts to reciprocate the visit on the same purpose.
Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) Manicaland area manager Daniel Mumpande hailed the visit by the four member delegation from Manica province in the department of tourism saying their visit was an eye opener to Mozambicans who are set to benefit from the expertise in Zimbabwe.
“The visit was indeed an eye opener given that Manicaland has business minded people who are eager to share their knowledge in the industry. During discussion we noted that our counterparts do not have institutions like publicity association, which is the first a port of call when one gets to a tourist destination and we will capitalize on that, noted Mumpande.
The Area manager said in future they would return the visit to their Mozambican counterparts upon invitation. He further noted that in the long run the two provinces would engage in trade shows to boost tourism industry.
Speaking at the same occasion Hotel Association of Zimbabwe (HAZ) president Mr Tamuka Macheka said his association was also going to convene a meeting to deliberate and repackage the opportunities of venturing into hotel business in Mozambique.
“We are going to convene a meeting as an association to deliberate and repackage the opportunities as hoteliers found in Mozambique. The MOU that was signed between the two countries has given us a direction in terms of implementing our goals so as to deliver the dictates of the MOU,” said Macheka.
Macheka also reiterated that as hoteliers they were planning to make a fact finding visit of similar nature in February, a development that will probably see some Zimbabweans opening hotels in Mozambique or engaging in other business ventures.
Manicaland province has a lot to offer in terms of tourism and as a sector ZTA pledged to identify and assist Mozambican communities in partaking also in community tourism enterprise.
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