Zimpapers Logo

Oliver Kazunga Senior Business Reporter
FOREIGN exhibitors at this year’s Zimbabwe International Trade Fair are optimistic of clinching lucrative deals.
The ZITF kicked off in Bulawayo yesterday with 19 countries exhibiting compared to 16 nations that participated at last year’s event.“This is our first time to participate at the ZITF and the first day has been very good for us. We hope we will be able to clinch deals with the locals,” said Ji Tong from China whose company sells Chinese black tea.

Namibian ambassador to Zimbabwe Balbina Daes Pienaar said her country was looking forward to strengthening trade relations with Zimbabwe.

She said trade showcases such as the ZITF created opportunities to enhance trade relations between the two countries.

“As an embassy, this year we came to exhibit at the fair with the Namibia Ports Authority (Namport). Namibia is a strategically located Sadc country that provides transit routes for products from or to the European markets. We are here also to market the transit routes that countries in Sadc such as Zimbabwe can use,” she said.

Daes Pienaar said trade between Zimbabwe  and Namibia was picking up adding that the two countries have a bond dating back to days of the liberation struggle.

“Our major export to Zimbabwe is beef and through the dry port facilities we are hoping to see more fish coming to Zimbabwe. In Namibia, we also have natural salt, a product that we are also hoping to export to Zimbabwe in the near future. From the Zimbabwe side, Namibia imports orange juice and a variety of agricultural produce,” she said.

“It is our hope that this year’s trade fair will go a long way in strengthening our trade relations with Zimbabwe.”

Namport corporate communications manager responsible for internal communications Cliff Shikuambi said: “We are exhibiting here for the second time. The core purpose is to strengthen our relations with Zimbabwe. Secondly, we are here as Namport targeting importers of second-hand vehicles because we have noted that 75 percent of the vehicles imported through Walvis Bay in Namibia are destined for Zimbabwe. Recently, it has come to our attention that most of the vehicle importers from Zimbabwe don’t know much about the export procedures so we are here to provide the information,” he said.

Zimbabwe was granted a piece of land by the Namibian government to establish a dry port at Walvis Bay in 2009.

The government has said it is putting up facilities at the dry port to facilitate trade especially for goods in transit from the European markets or going to the same markets.