President talks up Zimbabwe for investments President Mnangagwa

Tendai Mugabe, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates

International investors should consider investing in Zimbabwe as it has removed restrictions that hindered investment, President Mnangagwa said yesterday.

He stressed that Zimbabwe was open for business and was implementing economic and political reforms to ensure investments were safe.

Zimbabwe had already scrapped the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act which limited foreigners to 49 percent of new investments, reserving 51 percent for Zimbabweans.

He made the remarks yesterday while fielding questions during a discussion at the ongoing Global Business Forum on Africa that opened here  yesterday.

The President said since not all countries dislike Zimbabwe, the country decided to cooperate to have global funding.

“To do so, however, we needed to introduce reforms. Since I came into office barely two years ago, we have introduced reforms — a raft of economic reforms, a raft of political reforms in order to attract global capital into Zimbabwe,” he said.

“As I said, the current foreign policy of my country is to re-engage. But we don’t expect that global capital will just come because we are just asking it to come. 

“We must create an environment where it (investment) feels safe and comfortable. 

“We are also competing with many other jurisdictions in the region or developing countries which also wish to attract global  capital and investors to come and develop their economies.”

President Mnangagwa said since the introduction of economic reforms, the country has climbed 16 steps on the world ease of doing business index, which underscores that the reforms were being accepted.

“I am happy to have been invited here and I hope that I meet global participants in investments and we are saying Zimbabwe is open for business. 

“But perhaps the next country is saying we are also open for business. 

“Another country, perhaps in Asia, is saying we are open for business. You must create conducive conditions for investment.

“For those who want to make money, Zimbabwe is open, so come and make money in agriculture, in mining, in industry, in energy,” he said.

The President said due to climate change, electricity generation was now down, especially at Kariba because of low water levels.

“We cannot generate any power anymore but I know that among the people who are here, some have skills; technology in renewable energy like solar. 

“We have sunshine from January to December but we don’t have the capital to do it, so I am here to make sure that Zimbabwe is open to do business in those areas.”

President Mnangagwa said Zimbabwe was fortunate to be endowed with vast natural and human resources that could save as a catalyst to economic development.

He said the country had several opportunities in different sectors that investors could take advantage of.

As the country intensifies efforts to rebuild the economy under the “Zimbabwe is Open for Business” mantra, President Mnangagwa urged Zimbabwean technocrats to come back home and develop their motherland. 

“The issue is that we have hundreds of our top brains outside Zimbabwe as a result of the sanctions. Our young people in the diaspora we are saying to them come back. 

“After all, the fact that we have brain-drain is also giving us an advantage. Most of our Zimbabwean technocrats are in high places. 

“They have been exposed to global expertise and they must come back and develop their country. It is their mother country.”

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