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Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter

PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa arrived in Victoria Falls yesterday ahead of the official opening of the Zimbabwe Annual Mining Conference which he will preside over this morning.

He arrived at the venue of the conference, Elephant Hills Resort just after 5PM accompanied by Matabeleland North Provincial Affairs Minister Richard Moyo and Chief Secretary to the Office of the President and Cabinet Dr Misheck Sibanda, among other Government officials.

They were welcomed by Mines and Mining Development Minister Winston Chitando who had spent the day at the conference being attended by captains of the mining industry and representatives of different mining companies and other stakeholders.

President Mnangagwa was initially expected to officially open the occasion at 12 noon today, but Chamber of Mines chief executive Mr Isaac Kwesu told journalists earlier yesterday that the programme had been altered so the Head of State speaks earlier as he has other commitments elsewhere.

“The two symposiums will feed into the main conference to be addressed by President Mnangagwa tomorrow,” said Mr Kwesu at a Press briefing.

The Chamber of Mines is expected to give a report about yesterday’s proceedings from the gold and platinum symposiums where the need to regularise small-scale gold mining, power outages and crafting of a Gold Development policy were raised as some of the critical issues affecting the mining industry.

Minister Chitando will give an update on the industry while his Finance and Economic Development counterpart Professor Mthuli Ncube will present on the country’s macroeconomic targets and sectoral priorities for sustainable economic growth in line with Vision 2030.

There will also be a panel discussion on key enablers for growth before the conference closes in the afternoon. The conference started on Wednesday under the theme: “Realising Vision 2030 through resource led growth.” Tomorrow delegates will take time off the conference venue to explore various tourism activities and also play golf with a prize giving ceremony set for the evening. — @ncubeleon