European Union member states that closed shop during the First Republic era are now eyeing a comeback, with a high-powered delegation from the Netherlands reportedly expected this year.
This emerged yesterday after a meeting between President Mnangagwa and the chief executive officer of the Southern Africa Netherlands Chamber of Commerce, Mr Mark Agterdenbosch, in Brussels ahead of the Africa Union/European Union summit starting today.
In an interview, Mr Agterdenbosch said they are prepared to partner Zimbabwe in various areas that will help grow the economy and create jobs.
“The discussion was how Zimbabwe is open for business that was the theme (and) the focus for collaboration with the Netherlands. We were discussing new business opportunities in the fields of agrifoods and food security, land development.
“We also discussed opportunities in ICT working with universities, setting up collaborations between Dutch universities and universities in Zimbabwe,” said Mr Agterdenbosch.
Zimbabwe is using this year’s 6th summit of the two subcontinents to take the re-engagement drive to the EU, taking advantage of the exit of Britain from the bloc.
Britain is credited for mobilising other Western nations to impose sanctions on Zimbabwe following the land reform programme.
With the British out of the way, Zimbabwe is optimistic of thawing of relations with the EU.
Mr Agterdenbosch signalled that EU member states were ready to do business in Zimbabwe.
“We also discussed logistics issues in Special Economic Zones in Zimbabwe and how we can work around it.
“We discussed setting up the Netherlands economic hubs in Zimbabwe. However, we are going to execute this and create more investment into the country and contribute to economic growth, employment creation and have a transfer of skills and technology”.
Traditionally, the Netherlands has always been one of the major destinations for the country’s horticultural produce and Mr Agterdenbosch said this would be revived under the auspices of the new partnership, and taken to a higher level.
“We are looking into the flower industry to see how we can win back that area. We were also discussing how Zimbabwean flower growers can sell their products through the Netherlands to the rest of Europe. Of course, we first have to meet the domestic market and then export,” he said.
Finance and Economic Development Minister Prof Mthuli Ncube and Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Ambassador Frederick Shava attended the meeting.
Today, the President is expected to hold more meetings with the business community and political leadership before the official opening of the summit.
Source Herald
