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Mr Philippe Va Damme

Business Editor
BULAWAYO-based giant agro-processing firm United Refineries Limited (URL) says it is working on re-engaging the European Union (EU) to restore its export status after losing its licence due to perceived risks.Following EU’s announcement of removal of trade restrictions against Zimbabwe recently, the block’s new envoy, Philippe Van Damme, has been on a crusade urging local firms to tap on the EU market, which he says is now open to trade with Zimbabwe.

However, URL chief executive officer Busisa Moyo said several restrictions still remain and urged the EU to walk the talk if it was sincere about helping rescue the manufacturing sector.

“As United Refineries, we lost our licence to produce imperial leather products directly to the EU. This is not something I’m theorising. There are things that are hard hitting,” he told Business Chronicle.

“We used to produce on licence for a company called Casim. We’re trying to re-engage them but they clearly said look, ‘your country is going through issues, we can’t do business with you. It is issues like these which need to be looked at,” he said.

Moyo, who is also president of Matabeleland Chamber of Industries, said captains of industry met Van Damme to express their concerns regarding trade bottlenecks with EU.

“We met the EU ambassador last week as CZI and we had frank dialogue. We think the issue around perception of Zimbabwe businesses should be addressed because our products are good. We’ve got organic products, we’ve got good meat, but our products have been condemned because of a wrong political perception,” said Moyo.

He said there was a need to change the negative perception about Zimbabwe.

“That’s where we should start. Get rid of this misconception that Zimbabwe is a risky country. This misconception of saying if you travel to Zimbabwe, you can’t get travel insurance. There are certain things that at the stroke of a pen can be removed, which are still there and this is a big problem,” said Moyo.

He said it was a fact that the country’s businesses were under sanctions although the EU preferred to call them targeted travel restrictions. “They don’t like it when we talk about that. It’s not just about a few individuals. As CZI, we’ve said the issue of smart sanctions or whatever you would like to call them, risk perceptions if you want to modify them, must be addressed,” he said.

Moyo said EU needs to address the country’s risk issue and bemoaned the fact that strife torn countries like Eritrea and Ukraine have got lower risk premium than Zimbabwe which was not at  war. “These are things which are really frustrating businesses and are unjustified. Again at the stroke of a pen they can get up and say do business with Zimbabwe,” he said.

Moyo also said it was disappointing that insurance divisions of international finance institutions such as the World Bank would not give support to investors who wanted to conduct big business ventures in the country.

“You can’t get insurance even if you want to do a viable coal field project in Sengwa. The coal is of good quality, the price is good and we’ve got a market. We want to do business with the rest of the world on normal terms.

“If they’re saying they want to re-engage, they must remove all the restrictions. These are some of the important things the EU must look at. They might have issues with us but these are political yet they impact on business,” said Moyo.