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Finance and Economic Development minister Patrick Chinamasa

Leonard Ncube Victoria Falls Reporter
A HIGH powered ministerial delegation is in Victoria Falls for the 5th Buy Local Summit which starts this afternoon. The summit, Buy Zimbabwe chairman Oswell Binha said, seeks to address issues of competitiveness in terms of physical infrastructure, mining, agriculture, and current accounts.

Ministers Patrick Chinamasa (Finance and Economic Development), Supa Mandiwanzira (ICT and Courier Services), Walter Chidhakwa (Mining and Mining Development) and Deputy Minister of Industry and Commerce Chiratidzo Mabuwa are set to address the summit.

Other speakers will be Bulawayo-based personal and business transformation coach Zwelibanzi Ndlovu and other international acclaimed speakers from neighbouring Zambia.

“This is an annual summit of Buy Zimbabwe where we’re saying if people buy local we can increase money circulation locally and boost production thereby steering growth,” said Binha.

“The focus will be on three main areas,” he said: “Competitiveness of physical infrastructure, Information Communication Technologies and intellectual property and, mining which has been the anchor of economic recovery and how it can play a role to that effect.”

“The other issues to be discussed are agriculture since our economy is mainly agro-based and the current account where we want to focus on how we’re managing our imports,” said Binha.

The summit ends on Friday and runs under the theme “Enhancing local preference for industry revival”.

It is expected to create a platform to explore opportunities for local companies to increase their market share and competitiveness against a background of competition from cheap imports, low funding and high cost of borrowing.

This comes at a time when the country seeks to capacitate local products as the ultimate solution to economic turnaround.

The country is reeling under the burden of a high import bill.