Zim takes investment mantra to UK

Zim takes investment mantra to UK
Published: 21 February 2018
President Emmerson Mnangagwa's government will next month travel to the United Kingdom to lure British and European investors.

The investment roundtable meeting, which is being organised by Consolidated Africa Services (Cas), will held in London from March 14-17.

The latest development comes hardly a month after Mnangagwa launched the national investment policy statement that outlines the guidelines for investing in and harnessing the opportunities that abound in Zimbabwe.

"Zimbabwe's economy will be founded on sound market principles and principles of legal protection that encourage and protect private enterprise and the fruits thereof, while gainfully interacting with strategic public enterprises run professionally and profitably, all to yield a properly run national economy in which there is room and opportunity for everyone,'' he said.

The new economic thrust, he added, was alive to Zimbabwe's historical realities as he upheld the irreversibility of the land reform programme.

"Zimbabwe's historical realities and the fact that dispossession of ancestral land was the fundamental reason for waging the liberation struggle means that land reform cannot be reversed.

"The government recognises, however, that the execution of land redistribution has had unfortunate outcomes and consequences and is setting up mechanisms to address these," he said.

Mnangagwa, who replaced former president Robert Mugabe who resigned in November last year due to military and political pressure, said government recognised the role played by both foreign and domestic investors, reiterating government's commitment to companies that invest in the country and promised to be consistent in its implementation of policies among others.

"The government commits to treating all foreign and domestic investors and investments as favourably as any other investor in like situation in relation to the establishment, expansion and operation of their investments, subject to such exceptions as are provided for in domestic laws, regulations and policies," he said.

Organisers of the conference indicated that they would like to capitalise on the international goodwill generated as a result of the new government's re-engagement initiatives and hold an initial roundtable investment forum in London, as a precursor to the main event in Harare towards the end of 2018.

"The aim of the London roundtable is to give the Zimbabwe government and business leaders a platform to showcase opportunities to selected members of the investor community and to reassure them that Zimbabwe really is open for business and the time to invest is now," Cas said.

The roundtable will be co-hosted by the international law firm Squire Patton Boggs, which is recognised as one of the world's strongest integrated legal practices, providing insight at the point where law, business and government meet.

With more than 1 500 lawyers across 46 offices in 20 countries, the firm delivers commercially focused legal services and invaluable connections on the ground to a diverse mix of clients across North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and Latin America.

"Cas has always believed that Zimbabwe is strategically placed at the centre of the Southern African Development Corporation (Sadc) and therefore, by holding a London roundtable forum and following that, a major investor conference in Harare later in the year, Cas will enable the business and investor spotlight to focus firmly on Zimbabwe and so, by default, on the greater Sadc region," the company said.

Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa, Industry minister Mike Bimha, Forreign Affairs minister Sibusiso Moyo, Mines minister Winston Chitando, Tourism minister Priscah Mupfumira, Agriculture minister Perrance Shiri, central bank governor John Mangudya and Zimbabwe Investment Authority chief executive Richard Mbaiwa are some of the people expected to grace the conference.
- dailynews
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