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Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter

THE Victoria Falls City Council is considering scouting for a twinning arrangement with Belarusian local authorities riding on the recent visit to the city by the European country’s President Alexander Lukashenko.

President Lukashenko was in Victoria Falls on Wednesday where he sampled some tourism activities in the resort city in the company of President Mnangagwa who hosted him during the three-day State visit.

A number of agreements were signed between the two countries in areas of agriculture, economic cooperation, and business.

Victoria Falls City Council authorities said they are considering scouting for cities to twin with leveraging on socio-economic and political relations being enjoyed by the two countries.

Victoria Falls Town Clerk Mr Ronnie Dube said the visit highlighted the importance of the tourism destination.

“It was a very important visit for us as Victoria Falls and now it is important that we twin with cities from, the world and more importantly now with Belarus,” said Mr Dube.

He said the city will start by scouting for those local authorities whose economy is hinged on tourism.

Victoria Falls’ economy is centred around tourism and already the city is working on signing a twinning arrangement with Phalaborwa of South Africa’s Limpopo province under the Trans Limpopo Spatial Development Initiative that was signed in 2001.

“We will be keen definitely to scout for cities that share the same values and sentiments with Victoria Falls, that is cities that survive on tourism and so we are going to make serious follow-ups” said Mr Dube.

Victoria Falls was conferred city status in 2019.

The city mayor Councillor Somvelo Dlamini said the city would need to strike deals with corresponding cities to complement Government efforts.

“We are so excited by the recent visit and to us this puts us on the world map which can only be complemented by us also getting partners. We need to strike deals as a city which would position us as a world destination,” said Cllr Dlamini.

-@ncubeleon