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Edgar Lungu

Oliver Kazunga Senior Business Reporter
ZAMBIAN president Edgar Lungu will officially open this year’s Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) on April 24, Industry and Commerce Minister, Mike Bimha, said in Bulawayo yesterday.

The 56th edition of ZITF will be held at the Zimbabwe International Exhibition Centre in the city from April 21 to 25 under the theme, “Stimulating Trade . . . Seizing Opportunities to Accelerate Growth”.

In line with the theme, this year’s trade fair is expected to offer a prime platform for networking and opportunities to propel economic growth.

“The government has approved the recommendation to invite the President of Zambia Edgar Lungu to be the guest of honour for ZITF 2015,” said the minister.

Bimha said Zimbabwe and Zambia enjoy strong bilateral ties in trade and investment hence the invitation of that country’s president to officially open the trade fair was critical.

“Zambia is one of our major trading partners and we share a lot of historical cultural ties with that country. There’s a lot in terms of trade, which is happening in Zambia and the emphasis in Sadc, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) and Africa at large is on how best we can boost our trade.

“The region exports raw materials to Europe which they add value and export back to Africa as finished products. We need to value add and beneficiate our resources so that we maximise value,” he said.

The minister said ZITF was an important pillar created to promote trade and investment.

“ZITF gives us an opportunity to showcase what we can make and trade among ourselves as a people before talking of bringing other people from outside the country,” he said.

Bimha expressed satisfaction with the preparatory work that the ZITF Company had made for the forthcoming trade showcase.

“I’m very delighted that the ZITF Company board and management have made a lot of progress in preparation for the trade fair.

“I’m told that 80 percent of the available exhibition space has already been taken and we do have quite a lot of inquiries that are still coming. If we continue to fine tune what we have it’s going to be bigger and better than last year,” he said.

Countries that have confirmed participation include Germany, India, Malawi, Mozambique, Pakistan, Poland and South Africa.

The first three days will be exclusively for business while the expo will be opened to the public on April 24.

One of the key events during ZITF, the Bulawayo Agricultural Show, will run from April 21 to 25.

A’sambeni Africa Business Tourism Expo, for the meetings, incentives, conferences and events tourism sector; Scholastica, for the education, careers and training sectors; Pakprint, for the printing and packaging sectors and Ultim8 Home, for home improvement and renovation, will run parallel to ZITF 2015.

The ZITF International Business Conference will this year focus on how stimulating exports will provide opportunities to propel growth under the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-economic Transformation (ZimAsset).