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Fungi Kwaramba in Beijing, China

PRESIDENT Mnangagwa yesterday continued with his engagements with African leaders and corporate China, which stands ready to support and facilitate Zimbabwe’s infrastructure development towards Vision 2030.

President Mnangagwa met the Union of the Comoros leader Mr Azali Assoumani as part of his bilateral engagements on the sidelines of the Forum on China- Africa Co-operation (FOCAC).

The Comoros President paid a courtesy call on President Mnangagwa at his hotel in Beijing.

Speaking to journalists after the meeting, Mr Assoumani said his country is ready to work with Zimbabwe in different areas.

“We spoke with the President on relations between Zimbabwe and the Comoros, how to improve them, we also spoke about SADC. The President of Zimbabwe has just become the Chair of SADC, and I congratulated the President and we now look at how we can work together towards common good,” he said.

Apart from meeting the Comoros leader, President Mnangagwa also met with the China corporate world.

The President met Mr Xiang Guangda, the chairman of Tsingshan Holdings Group, the parent company of Dinson Iron and Steel Company which has built a US$1,5 billion plant at Manhize.

He also met representatives of ZTE Corporation, the leading global provider of integrated information and communication technology solutions, and other top Chinese companies.

The President, who has visited the cities of Shenzhen, Shaoshan, and Nanjing, engaging billion-dollar companies like telecommunications giant Huawei, electric vehicle manufacturer Build Your Dream, and NARI, a company that specialises in smart substation automation solutions covering system design, system modelling, network architecture, and system integration, also met construction giant Jiangsu China International that refurbished the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport and the Victoria Falls International Airport.

On Tuesday, the President met officials from China International Railway Group, among other companies.

In an interview, National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) general manager, Ms Respina Zinyanduko said China Rail International Group is ready to refurbish the country’s railway network, as that forms a key component of the transport infrastructure.

“We had a meeting with his Excellency, the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, Dr ED Mnangagwa, together with potential investors within the railway industry. China Rail International is responsible for executing overseas projects. 

“This is not the first time we are meeting this company, they have already done a feasibility study and expressed an interest in funding the project, so this meeting is a follow up of results of that feasibility study and we are now moving to the next stage where we are going to see the company now looking for funding.

“We are expecting that very soon we are going to work on the financial closure for the business for the project and we are very excited as the NRZ that we have moved this far with this Chinese  company,” she said.

Ms Zinyanduko said China Rail International Group is going to build about five stations under Phase One of the NRZ modernisation programme and supply 17 locomotives and 209 wagons.

Today, President Mnangagwa is expected to continue with his engagements with corporate China.