eBusiness Weekly
Golden Sibanda
China has committed to provide more loans, financial assistance and encourage further investments into Zimbabwe to strengthen already blooming bilateral ties after it extended US$2,5 billion in the last few years in the form of investments, loans and grants, a senior Chinese diplomat in Harare has said.
Delivering a speech in Harare recently to celebrate the Chinese Spring Festival and welcome the arrival of the Lunar Year of the Pig, Charge d’Affairs of the Chinese Embassy Zhao Baogang, said China will provide more loans, grants and bring more investments to Zimbabwe going forward, as cooperation grows.
To that end, a 35 member Chinese business delegation will visit Harare this week to seek opportunities for cooperation in the areas of agriculture, manufacturing and special economic zone construction among others.
Baogang said China had strong confidence in the Government and the people of Zimbabwe under the leadership of President Emmerson Mnangagwa. Socio-economic and political relations between the two countries date back several decades back, before Zimbabwe gained independence from Britain in April 1980.
Some of China’s investments in Zim
Already, Baogang said China had provided loans, grants and investments into key economic areas including Kariba South Power Station (300 megawatt extension), Hwange Power Station (600MW extension), Harare International Airport (upgrade and extension) and Victoria Falls International Airport (upgrade and expansion).
Further, China said through financial support from Beijing the ground breaking for construction of a new Parliament building in Mount Hamden, which will be the location for Zimbabwe’s New City, was launched.
Baogang said with the investment China had made in Zimbabwe’s energy sector, the country would soon have capacity to generate excess power for export. Several Chinese firms, including Sino-Sure, Tian Ze Tobacco Company, Afrochine and Anhui Foreign Economic Cooperation (AFECC) are already operating in Zimbabwe.
China and Zimbabwe last year elevated their all weather friendship to comprehensive strategic partnership when President Mnangagwa visited the Asian country in his first outbound trip from Africa after rising to power in November 2017.
During the visit, he signed several mega deals across various sectors with his counterpart, President XI Jinping.
China commits to invest more in Zim
“We will provide more grants and assistance, we will provide more loans and we will bring more investments,” he said. “Next week (this week) a 35 member Chinese business delegation will visit Zimbabwe and promote cooperation in agricultural production, manufacturing sector and special economic zone construction.”
Baogang said China will encourage the Chinese community and Chinese private enterprises in the country to actively participate in the development of Zimbabwe, make contributions to economic recovery, rejuvenation and attainment of vision 2030; by which time the country targets to be a middle income state.
The top Chinese diplomat said bilateral ties between China and Zimbabwe were paying off and with many locals already enjoying the benefits, Zimbabwe must pay more attention to potential areas of cooperation with the Asian giant, which can provide secretes and resources for Zimbabwe’s development.
Last year, China continued on strong economic growth trajectory, and celebrated 40 years of reform and opening up the economy. It has since risen to become the second largest economy globally. Over the period, China’s economy has grown at an average rate of 9,5 percent, the fastest of any economy during that period.
Opportunities for Zimbabwe
Baogang said in the coming years China will import US$24 trillion worth of goods and invest US$750 billion in foreign countries. “The figures speak volumes for enormous business opportunities in China and the great potential for China-Zimbabwe bilateral cooperation,” the Harare based Chinese diplomat noted.
Baogang said up to last year China continued to be the biggest driver of international cooperation and 2018 marked the fifth anniversary since President XI Jinping launched the famous Belt and Road Initiative.
At the last Forum for China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) meeting in Beijing, 60 countries and international organisations signed the Belt and Road Initiative cooperation agreements with China, bringing the total of such agreements to 170, Baogang said.
“At the Beijing summit of the Forum for China-Africa Cooperation, which attracted unprecedented participation, over 100 new cooperation measures under eight major initiatives were unveiled, with US$60 billion financing in place for African countries, including Zimbabwe,” Baogang said.
