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Farirai Machivenyika, Harare Bureau

PRESIDENT Mnangagwa has officially gazetted the tax agreement between Zimbabwe and the Republic of Belarus, which was concluded in January 2023. 

This announcement appears in Proclamation 2 of 2025, included in Statutory Instrument 18 of 2025, published in an Extraordinary Government Gazette last week.

The agreement aims to avoid double taxation and prevent tax evasion concerning income and property taxes. It seeks to regulate tax relations between the two nations and promote trade and economic co-operation on mutually beneficial terms.

The proclamation states: “Whereas, it is provided for by section 91 of the Income Tax Act that the President may enter into agreements with the government of any other country or territory to prevent, mitigate, or discontinue the levying of taxes on the same income . . . ”

The agreement was finalised with the Belarusian Government on January 31, 2023, and has now been officially proclaimed.

In the previous year, Zimbabwe hosted the inaugural session of the Zimbabwe-Belarus Joint Permanent Commission on Cooperation (JPCC) in Harare, leading to several memoranda of understanding, agreements, and commercial contracts between the two countries.

Co-operation spans various sectors, including mining, infrastructure development, science and innovation, agriculture, and industry. Belarus has supplied Zimbabwe with tractors, earth-moving trucks, and fire-fighting  equipment.

President Mnangagwa and his Belarusian counterpart, Aleksandr Lukashenko, have engaged in State visits and met at various international forums, further strengthening their diplomatic and economic ties.