Zimbabwe’s re-engagement with the West went a gear up
yesterday when President Mnangagwa had an historic meeting with United States
assistant secretary of State for African Affairs Mr Tibor Nagy, in a
development described by Harare as a “milestone” in restoring normal relations
with Washington.
The President also met his Mozambican counterpart President
Filipe Nyusi and apprised him of the country’s food security situation,
including electricity shortages, with a view of accessing power from Cahora
Bassa Hydroelectric plant (HCB), which is generating excess power.
The meetings took place on the sidelines of the 12th
edition of the US-Africa Business Summit, to which Zimbabwe was invited
following years of being snubbed under the previous regime.
President Mnangagwa was meeting Mr Nagy for the second
time, after talks held on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly
in September last year.
Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli
Ncube, who took part in the meeting, said Zimbabwe — in addition to updating
the US official on progress made through the ongoing reforms — also raised the
issue of CBZ Bank’s punitive US$350 million fine imposed for ostensibly
violating sanctions laws.
“Yes, we met with Tibor Nagy, who is the head for Africa in
the US State Department, and we had a wonderful conversation,” he said.
“I think we are beginning to find common ground,
step-by-step, so basically His Excellency (President Mnangagwa) was able to
share with him, Mr Nagy, the progress that we are making on legislative
reforms, the progress that we are making on economic reforms through the TSP
(Transitional Stabilisation Programme).
“We were also able to thank him and the United States for
supporting Zimbabwe directly, giving us financial support regarding the
Cyclone, but also the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB)
encouragement to support Zimbabwe at that level.
“So, we really had a wonderful discussion, but also His
Excellency was able to convey to American companies that; ‘Zimbabwe is open for
them, we are open for business’.”
Prof Ncube said the Government wanted to move to a position
where it could engage freely with the US.
“We recognise the way General Electric is trying to play in
the economy, trying to get involved in various infrastructure projects,” he
said.
“We also raised the issue of CBZ Bank; as you know CBZ was
fined US$350 million, it is our largest bank and perhaps we need some
assistance if they have to pay that amount of money; it is a lot of money.
“I think there was sympathy from the other side of the
table that we were really able to make progress on all these issues. Of course
the biggest elephant in the room is the issue of sanctions, the issue Zidera.
“Again, we were able to explain that a lot of progress has
been made in terms of restoring those issues that have been troubling our
colleagues in the United States. And we want to move to a point that we are
able to interact freely and engage freely with the United States. I think this
meeting is a milestone in terms of re-engagement with the United States.”
Mr Nagy was coy to discuss details of the meeting. “We discussed a full range of issues between our countries,
but you can ask His Excellency the Ambassador over there,” he said.
The US has activated its business interests on the
continent and is now pushing for renewed business relations through its new African
policy – Prosper Africa – which was launched by President Donald Trump in
December last year.
Speaking after a two-hour meeting with President Nyusi,
President Mnangagwa said the two sister Republics were “Siamese twins” and,
therefore, “there is nothing out of bounds” for the two countries to discuss
issues.
“We discuss anything that we think is necessary to share;
on my part, I was briefing His Excellency the President about the current food
insecurity in Zimbabwe as a result of the drought that has visited us and also
the fact (that) our energy sector – electricity – has gone down primarily as a
result of that drought,” he said.
“But because it is now as low as 33 percent, we have
reduced generation of power by almost 50 percent; that also affects Zambia. So,
I was appealing to my brother that Cahora Bassa (Dam) is around 96 percent
full, so the generation there has not been affected. We felt that perhaps we
look at it and see whether Zimbabwe can access that energy from Cahora Bassa.”
The two Presidents also discussed ways of mitigating the
consequences of Cyclone Idai, which claimed more than 1 000 lives in the region
and damaged property worth billions of dollars.
Relatedly, Harare and Maputo also intend to deepen economic
cooperation in infrastructure development to modernise the two economies.
President Mnangagwa said he found “common ground” to
consolidate relations between the two countries.
“Beyond that, we talked about how we can upgrade our
economic cooperation between Zimbabwe and Mozambique; in particular, in
relation to infrastructure development; that is, both road, rail and the
transportation of fuel – the pipeline,” he said .
“And in all those areas we found common ground to
consolidate our relations with a view of modernising and growing the two
respective economies.”
The new political administration intends to transform the
country from being landlocked to land-linked, and Mozambique provides a
convenient route to the sea.
Zimbabwe is also angling to get positive spin-offs from the
US$20 billion gas project that will soon be implemented by Mozambique and US
company Anadarko Petroleum.
“We are looking forward to the consummation of the current
project in northern Mozambique; the gas project, which will usher in benefits to
Mozambique as well as to Zimbabwe because there will be by-products coming out
of that project,” said President Mnangagwa. Herald
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