Government has pledged 2000ha to the African Union for the
Wakanda One village to be shared by Zimbabwe and Zambia as part of joint
development efforts across Southern Africa.
Wakanda One village is a concept that seeks to rope in
Africans living in the Diaspora in spearheading development at identified sites
on the continent.
The pledge comes in handy in the country’s re-engagement
efforts where it also seeks to court Zimbabweans in the Diaspora to contribute
to the nation’s economic turnaround.
President Mnangagwa has also set an ambitious target to
turn Zimbabwe into an upper middle-class economy by 2030 with tourism,
agriculture and mining driving the vision.
In an interview during the inaugural Intra African Trade
Fair, which ended on Monday this week in Cairo, Egypt, African Union Ambassador
and Permanent Representative to the US, Dr Arikana Chihombori-Quao, confirmed
President Mnangagwa’s pledge recently.
“I met His Excellency President Mnanagwa recently and he
offered us 2000ha for the regional Wakanda One in Victoria Falls.
“The offer also comes in when the Zambian Government has
also offered some land across the river in Livingstone. So we are looking at
building the village straggling the border between the countries,” she said.
Zambia has offered 132ha for the project. The Wakanda One village concept expresses a desire by
African leaders for all people of African descent – the Diaspora – to return
home and participate in building the continent.
Wakanda One – the building of African Centres of Excellence
across Africa – is looking at building five centres, one in each region, which
serve as growth nods for each region which should have downstream benefits for the
population.
It will provide state of the art healthcare facilities
using advanced technology and onsite pharmaceutical manufacturing. Herald
0 comments:
Post a Comment