Address By His Excellency
The President Of The Republic Of Zimbabwe,
Comrade R. G. Mugabe,On The Occasion Of The Official Opening
Of The 48 th Zimbabwe International Trade Fair,
Friday 27 th April, 2007.
Honourable Vice President Dr. Joseph Msika,
Honourable Vice President Comrade Joice Mujuru and General Solomon Mujuru,
The National Chairman of ZANU (PF) and Speaker of Parliament, Cde John Nkomo,
The President of the Senate, Amai Edna Madzongwe,
The Minister of Industry and International Trade, Honourable Obert Mpofu,
Honourable Ministers here present,
The Resident Minister of the Metropolitan Province of Bulawayo, Comrade Cain Mathema,
Provincial Governors and Resident Ministers here present,
The Chairman of the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair Board of Directors, Cde Nhlanha Masuku and fellow Directors,
The General Manager of the ZITF, Mr Daniel Chigaru and Management of the Fair,
Honourable Members of the Senate and Parliament,
His Honour the Executive Mayor of the City of Bulawayo, Councillor Japhet Ndabeni-Ncube,
Executive Mayors and other Civic Leaders,
Service Chiefs,
Your Excellencies Members of the Diplomatic Corps,
Captains of Commerce and Industry,
Distinguished Exhibitors,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Comrades and Friends.
It gives me great pleasure to address you on the auspicious occasion of the official opening of the 48 th Edition of the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair. Having last officially opened the Fair in 1996, today's occasion resembles a homecoming. We as Government and people of Zimbabwe take immense pride in this premier international trade exhibition that brings together exhibitors and business experiences from the length and breadth pf the African continent and, indeed, from the rest of the world.
Coming soon after we celebrated our 27 th Independence Anniversary as a sovereign Nation, the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair is indeed another celebration and one which continues to grow from strength to strength, thus contributing to the rich tapestry of all economic endeavours which make up our country's national economic programme. This year's Fair has over 730 exhibitors, with 90 per cent of them being local. Thirteen countries, namely, Bangladesh, Botswana, China, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Malaysia, Mozambique, Pakistan, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania and Zambia, representing a 40 percent increase over last year's figures, have an interesting presence this year.
This year's Edition of ZITF has the theme, " Zimbabwe Brands, Regional Brands and Global Brands," thus providing an appropriate opportunity and platform for all exhibitors to showcase their different brands to the Zimbabwean, regional and international communities. It is also pleasing to note the quality of the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair has continued to improve. Exhibitors this year have booked bigger stands while all the Exhibition Halls have been fully taken up. This is indeed a commendable achievement.
This year, we also celebrate the return of one of the ZITF's highlights, namely, the Asambeni Africa Tour and Travel Expo. In this category, we are delighted to have 76 foreign buyers from the region and beyond, who are sponsored by the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority. I am pleased that their visit to our country will give them an opportunity to get a first hand experience of our situation, which has often been misrepresented by some hostile sections of the media. This way they will be able to serve as true ambassadors of Zimbabwe.
The Fair is taking place at a time when the country's economy continues to face a number of challenges, which have contributed to low performance in some key productive areas of mainly the manufacturing, mining and tourism sectors. The challenges to the economy have been aggravated by declared and undeclared sanctions by the Western countries resulting in the absence of Balance of Payments (BOP) support, the stagnation in capital inflows and escalation in prices of goods and services. Recurrent droughts have added their own impact of challenges.
These transient challenges have nonetheless strengthened our resolve to forge ahead with the economic turnaround programme based on pragmatic home-grown policies and experiences. In this regard, the National Economic Development Priority Programme (the NEDPP) and our Look East Policy feature prominently as the most important strategic interventions. The NEDPP is a policy vehicle premised on public-private sector partnership with Government and has, as its focus, a sustainable economic turnaround programme that aims at high sectoral productivity; the reduction of inflation; removal of price distortions; enhancement of food security; boost foreign currency generation and savings; among other objectives. It is also within this context that the social partners, that is, Government, Business and Labour, are currently negotiating a Social Contract which, once concluded, should further buttress the economic recovery efforts through enhanced confidence building and the harmonisation and stabilisation of prices and incomes.
On the Look East Policy front, I am pleased to report that significant headway has been made to date, with a number of investment projects that have been funded by China now at various stages of implementation in all the key sectors of our economy.
Only last week, we witnessed the handover of hundreds of tractors and different types of agricultural machinery and equipment to the Zimbabwe Farmers World Corporation by the Honourable Jia Qinglin, Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. This was in addition to a range of such agricultural inputs as fertilisers, agro-chemicals and animal vaccines, that have also been received from China.
Besides our trading partners in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), countries of Asia are fast becoming very important partners in trade and investment issues because of our Look East Policy. Indeed, Zimbabwe has been able to broaden her economic horizons, and extend her frontiers in trade investment by embarking on various joint co-operation projects on the basis of this policy.
Apart from these measures, Government is working to enhance productivity through capacitation of those strategic companies in the critical sectors of the economy which have the potential to generate exports and employment. Furthermore, a policy position has been taken to encourage toll manufacturing as a means of boosting capacity utilisation and export generation. Yet another positive development is the recent amalgamation of the former Zimbabwe Investment Centre and the Export Processing Zones Authority to form a one-stop investment agency, namely, the Zimbabwe Investment Authority (ZIA). I hope the regional and international participants at this Fair will take the initiative to explore the vast opportunities of investment available to them in Zimbabwe.
It is pleasing to note that Government recently launched the National Export Strategy whose objective is to transform Zimbabwe from a producer and exporter of primary commodities, into a major producer and exporter of value-added products not only to the traditional but to a growing and diversified spectrum of markets as well. Indeed, the centrepiece of the process of economic transformation that Zimbabwe is currently going through is that of the beneficiation of the products from her natural resources into value-added manufactured goods. The National Export Strategy is designed to unlock Zimbabwe's export potential and enhance the competitiveness of her products on the export markets.
As we implement the economic turnaround strategies, our challenge as a Nation, is to remain resolutely committed to the programme and the consolidation of a strong and genuine partnership of all stakeholders on the basis of a win-win situation. There is thus a need to subordinate narrow sectarian interests to the broader national good.
With all these developments in place, our greatest assignment as a Nation is to move away from the 'business as usual' approach in addressing our socio-economic challenges. This calls for a fundamental paradigm shift and a reformed mindset right across the board. It calls, and I repeat, for a strong genuine partnership between Government and the private sector, one that is synergistic and collaborative, rather than adversarial and confrontational.
I wish to take this opportunity to congratulate both local and foreign exhibitors who have done well and won awards for their stands. For those who have not made it, there is always a next time to try again.
In conclusion, I would like to take this opportunity, on behalf of the Government and people of Zimbabwe and, indeed on my own behalf to express my most profound gratitude for the solidarity and continued support from all the exhibitors from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) region, and from beyond Africa. The continued growth in the participation of small to medium enterprises in successive editions of the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair is a welcome development which speaks eloquently of the success of Government's empowerment programme. My Government remains ready to work with well-meaning co-operating partners from the region and internationally in the implementation of our economic recovery programme.
With these remarks, Mr Chairman, I now have the pleasure to declare the 48 th Edition of the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair officially open.
I thank you. |
