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Michael Magoronga, Midlands Correspondent 

IMPROVED relations between Zimbabwe and Germany have seen an influx of investors flocking into the country to explore investment opportunities. 

Germany Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Mr Thorsten Hutter, revealed this in an interview on the sidelines of the commissioning of the $255 million ZimCoke Plant in Redcliff, Kwekwe last week. He said Zimbabwe and Germany have been working flat out to formalise economic ties after a period of frosty relations in the past 17 years. 

The Germany government played a critical role in facilitating the ZimCoke deal with Ziscosteel. More investors from that country are expected to invest within the coking coal company and other sectors of the economy, Amb Hutter said. 

“We have had several visits here of several Germany government officials including our Foreign Affairs Minister who has been here twice and the Minister of Economic Development Co-operation who was here last year,” he said. 

“We have other delegations coming here to see how to establish a formal relationship with the Zimbabwean government, which needs to be done urgently because we have not had a formal relationship regarding economic investment for the past 17 years.” 

Amb Hutter hailed President Mnangagwa’s re-engagement policy saying it has opened doors for investors but noted that there was more that needed to be done to fix the currency issue. 

“His Excellency the President and his Cabinet are keen to make Zimbabwe open for business. I think that there are good initiatives like the Zimbabwe Investment Development Authority (ZIDA), which is set to be created. But honestly, there is more that needs to be done before we formalise that. The climate still needs to improve so that either local companies or foreign companies get to do business freely without currency worries,” he said. 

Despite the currency instability issues that are currently bedeviling the economy driven mainly by speculation on the forex exchange market, more Germany companies have been coming into the country with a view to investing here, said the Ambassador. 

“They have expressed interest and so far they have met with Government officials. They are focusing on the rule of law, property rights and the ownership of their investments. Once that is clarified, I am hopeful that there will be more investment in the country,” he said. 

Already, a Germany company, Thyseen Krupp, has shown interest in building a plant on the ZimCoke site to produce chlorine for water purification and industrial use. 

Evident to the improving relations, the German government also granted approval for the removal of a $220 million debt by Zisco from the Paris Club to allow the debt settlement between KfW and ZimCoke, which assumed the debt from Zisco.

The agreement has opened doors for the ZimCoke investment, which is a huge step towards the re-opening of the giant steel manufacturing company.