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Sikhulekelani Moyo, [email protected]

THE national trade development and promotion organisation, ZimTrade, is targeting to increase exports to the African continent following positive engagements at the just ended 3rd Intra Africa Trade Fair (IATF) held in Cairo, Egypt recently.

The premier African trade fair was held in collaboration with the African Union and the secretariat of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to facilitate              trade and investment deals worth US$43 billion.

The trade fair offers a unique platform for businesses to access an integrated African market of over 1,3 billion people with a gross domestic product (GDP) of over US$3,5 trillion created under the AfCFTA.

ZimTrade communications manager Mr Danai Majaha said judging by the nature and number of inquiries, the trade promotion body is confident it will reach targeted deals worth in excess of US$20 million.

He said local firms that participated were able to establish strong networks with various distributors and buyers from across the continent.

He said the general sentiment was that Zimbabwe is home to top-quality products as most of the buyers showed willingness to import.

“We are confident that after IATF we should be able to see growth in the exports from Zimbabwe to the African continent and we are also happy that the companies which were participating were also able to connect with suppliers of raw materials, most of which they were importing from out of Africa.

“So, we are positive that when they start sourcing these raw materials from Africa and including the neighbouring countries, this will lower the cost of production which will improve the competitiveness of their products,” he said.

“Some companies were able to take stock of their production processes and benchmark what they are producing with the standards in Africa where they need to improve.

“They were able to learn from other producers so that they improve on the quality of their products and we are happy that they were able to learn from peer review.”

He added that producers and buyers from Africa were satisfied with what Zimbabwe is producing and they are looking forward to continuing the engagement with Zimbabwean producers.

Going forward, he indicated that ZimTrade will be undertaking several programmes to connect Zimbabwean exporters with buyers in Africa.

About 20 companies got an opportunity to exhibit their goods and services at the just ended IATF.

Zimbabwe’s participation at the fair is in line with its engagement and re-engagement drive, which is being spearheaded by President Mnangagwa.

To further grow exports, Zimbabwe targets one of the world’s largest free trade areas, AfCFTA that provides a great opportunity for businesses to capitalise on the continent’s growing sectors.

Giving an update to Cabinet on the 3rd Intra- African Trade Fair, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Honourable Dr Fredrick Shava said President Mnangagwa led a delegation to the fair, whose objective was to create avenues to harness trade and investment opportunities through the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
Zimbabwe, Egypt, Botswana, Malawi, Benin, Chad and two financial institutions (Afreximbank and Arise Integrated Industrial Platforms) signed the Export Agriculture for Food Security Initiative.

Dr Shava said Afreximbank is committing billions to boost production, processing and intra-African trade in agricultural products and Zimbabwe is expected to benefit from the fund.

IATF brings together continental and global players to showcase and exhibit their goods and services and to explore business and investment opportunities in the continent.
It also provides a platform to share trade, investment and market information with stakeholders and allows participants to discuss and identify solutions to the challenges confronting intra-African trade and investment.

In addition to African participants, the trade fair is also open to businesses and investors from non-African countries interested in doing business in Africa and in supporting the continent’s transformation through industrialisation and export development. —@SikhulekelaniM1