Zim-DRC  business indaba set for Byo Engagements between Zimbabwe businesses and Kinshasa buyers continue in Kinshasa Outward Seller Mission. There are vast opportunities for Zim large and small exporters (pics by ZimTrade)

Business Editor
A BUSINESS delegation from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will be in Bulawayo next week to engage with local industry and commerce players and assess opportunities for trade and investment.

As part of the visit, a Zimbabwe-DRC Business Forum would be hosted by the country’s trade development and promotion agency, ZimTrade, on the sidelines of the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) next Thursday.

The trade and investment conference will be attended by business executives, trade support institutions as well as Government officials from the DRC.

It is expected to open up business opportunities by match-making business from the two countries, providing a platform for identifying and solving impediments affecting trade between the two states.

As part of the forum programme, the visiting delegation would be taken on a tour of companies in Bulawayo, the country’s manufacturing hub, and Harare to familiarise themselves with local business operations.

The engagement buttresses the country’s drive to champion an export-led economic trajectory, and the DRC market is seen as strategic for Zimbabwe’s exports. Already official data shows Zimbabwe’s exports to DRC have tremendously increased in the past five years, jumping from US$2.8 million in 2016 to US$37 million in 2020.

To further cement the trade relations, this week the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Dr David Musabayana, led a delegation of 20 Zimbabwean companies on an Outward Trade Mission to Kinshasa, organised by ZimTrade.

“The Outward Trade Mission to Kinshasa will be followed by the Zimbabwe DRC Business Forum, which will be held in Bulawayo alongside the ZITF on 23 September 2021,” said ZimTrade in response to questions from the Chronicle.

“A total of six buyers will be part of the Governor of Lubumbashi, His Excellency Acques Kyabula Katwe, business delegation to Zimbabwe. The buyers are drawn from all the sectors of the economy and are expected to conduct business to business meetings with local exporters as well taking part in company visits to familiarise themselves with our operations.

“Participating companies will be drawn from different sectors with potential in the DRC market, which include the following – mining supplies, building and construction, processed foods, services sectors amongst others.”

Although Zimbabwe and DRC are both members of SADC, in the time being, DRC is yet to ratify the trade protocol.

It has also signed the AfCFTA deal, whose implementation commenced in January this year but its yet to ratify the agreement as well.

“This will form part of the objectives of the trade mission to engage the policy makers in DRC so that the two countries work together to indorse legal frameworks to facilitate business exchanges to reduce the cost of business transactions,” said ZimTrade.

“These include the Preferential Trade Agreements, Agreement of Avoidance of Double Standards and the Bilateral

Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement.”

According to ZimTrade, the Kinshasa mission programme kicked-off with a half-day Trade and Investment Seminar, which was attended by Minister of External Trade of Kinshasa, La Fédération des entreprises du Congo (FEC) and Congolese companies.

This was followed by business-to-business meetings at the venue and visits to companies in Kinshasa for further engagements and familiarisation tours. The platform afforded opportunity to local companies to engage with potential buyers in Kinshasa with the ultimate objective of generating export orders for the country.

The Kinshasa Outward Trade Mission is a follow-up to another mission, which was conducted by ZimTrade to Lubumbashi in May, where local companies engaged with their counterparts in the Katanga province.

“The mission generated a lot of interest from Congolese companies who have expressed to import from various products from Zimbabwe. As a result of participating in this mission, local companies in the following sectors are already negotiating for export orders to Lubumbashi; FMCG, mining supplies, PPEs and ICT,” said ZimTrade.
DRC has a total population of 87 million people making it the third most populous country in Africa, which also presents a broader export market opportunity for Zimbabwean companies.

In 2020, despite the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, DRC recorded a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate of 0.8 percent and its GDP per capita was US$545.00, which makes it a potential export market for Zimbabwean products and services, said ZimTrade.

DRC has enjoyed trade surplus over the past five years with an average trade surplus of over US$6.4 billion, according to the trade map. The country has also imported goods worth USD$6.66 billion from the world whereby

Zimbabwe has contributed 0.49 percent of the total exports to the DRC in 2020, which accounts for USD$36.9 million dollars.

DRC’s major imported products from Zimbabwe include coke and semi-coke of coal and similar solid fuels manufactured from coal, packaging material of plastics, stoppers, lids, maize or corn.

The package also covers ferrous products obtained by direct reduction of iron ore and other spongy ferrous products, appliances for pipes, boiler shells, tanks, cigars, cheroots, cigarillos and cigarettes of tobacco and clothing material.
DRC’s imports from SADC countries have decreased from US$1.5 billion in 2018 to US$1.1 billion 2020.

The products that dominate the import bill include those, which are used in mining activities such as chemicals and equipment, said ZimTrade.

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