President Emmerson Mnangagwa (ED) believes that the participation of the European Union, the United States, and the United Kingdom at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) is proof that his efforts to improve relations with other countries are working.
He made this statement to journalists after touring the fair, which ended on Saturday, 29 April 2023. The president told journalists:
The Americans are here, the British are here, the EU is here. What else would we want? Everybody is here. So this engagement and re-engagement policy is bearing fruits. Perhaps, they heard that the Majesty is coming. That’s why they are here.
Zimbabwe’s relations with the West have been strained due to political and economic issues, resulting in sanctions being imposed on the southern African nation. President Emmerson Mnangagwa has attempted to improve relations through his re-engagement policy, but progress has been slow due to concerns over human rights and governance. Some positive developments have occurred, such as the resumption of development aid by the EU and new funding pledges by the UK, but there are still obstacles to the full normalization of relations.
This year, over 20 countries participated at the ZITF, compared to only 13 last year. Angola, Belarus, Botswana, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Netherlands, Nigeria, South Africa, Sweden, Tanzania, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States of America and Zambia were the countries that participated.
The EU was the largest exhibitor, occupying 33 square meters of exhibition space, as reported by ZITF Company chairman Busisa Moyo. There were 533 exhibitors in total, taking up 46 631 square meters of exhibition space, which is 97% of the available space. This is an improvement from last year when the total space occupied was 45 786 square meters.
King Mswati III of the Royal Kingdom of Eswatini officially opened the fair and emphasized the need for greater trade and investment cooperation between Zimbabwe and Eswatini. He noted that while Eswatini imports over USD$2 billion worth of goods annually from Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe imports over USD$5.6 billion worth of goods annually from Eswatini. Despite this, trade and investment between the two countries remain insignificant compared to their economic connections with the rest of the world. Therefore, he called for closer trade and investment collaboration between the two countries.