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CHINESE President Xi Jinping’s visit next Tuesday will quicken the implementation of the mega deals sealed during President Mugabe’s State visit to the Asian economic giant last year, Chinese ambassador to Zimbabwe, Huang Ping, said yesterday.

Huang said President Xi’s visit would see another series of agreements being signed.

The two presidents, Ambassador Huang said, would work on modalities of turning the Memoranda of Understanding previously signed into agreements for them to be implementable.

President Xi will be in the country on a two-day State visit before proceeding to South Africa for the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.

Briefing journalists in Harare yesterday, Ambassador Huang said the visit would be about in-depth discussions set to bring tangible results to the people in the two countries.

“The two presidents will witness the signing of a series of new bilateral cooperation agreements, which I think are mega deals in areas of infrastructure construction, investment and financing, culture, wildlife protection, which will further enrich and bring new momentum to our practical cooperation,” he said.

“Most of the deals will be agreements rather than MOUs and you’ll see quick implementation after the visit. I’m confident that this visit will bring our all-weather friendship to a new high. They’ll set the tone for the future development of our relationship.”

Ambassador Huang said President Xi was serious about the mega deals and his visit signified the importance he attached to the landmark agreements.

He said nothing was hindering the implementation of the mega deals as propagated by the private media because most of the deals agreed were being implemented.

“Zimbabwe is the fourth country in Africa that President Xi visited since taking office, and one of the two African countries President Xi is visiting this year,” he said.

“China takes the deals it has signed very seriously, and always does what it can to ensure that the agreements follow through. That’s why President Xi chose Zimbabwe.

“Some of the documents that were signed between relevant authorities or enterprises are MOUs that demonstrate the willingness of both sides to cooperate in such areas and are the first but necessary step of the future cooperation.”

He said the two countries were pushing forward for the MOUs to be turned into agreements with feasibility studies being carried out and terms of cooperation being negotiated.

“Many projects are progressing well and we can expect to see more good results in the near future,” Ambassador Huang said.

Huang dismissed reports that China was waiting for Zimbabwe to have a new leader before injecting more foreign direct investment.

“China never interferes with the domestic affairs of any other country, and respects the choices of the Zimbabwean people in deciding the fate of their own country,” he said.

He said concerted efforts were needed to fight terrorism, which was affecting humanity and global economic development.

Three Chinese died when terrorists raided a hotel in Mali recently.

China is now the largest source of investment in Zimbabwe and in 2013, the Asian giant invested $602 million.

It has become one of the major trade partners of Zimbabwe and from 2010 – 14, the average annual growth rate of bilateral trade was 22 percent.

Tobacco and cotton account for 71 percent of China’s imports from Zimbabwe, while machinery and high-tech products account for 77 percent of Zimbabwe’s imports from China.