President Mnangagwa upbeat on Zim/US relations

Cape Town(New Ziana)-President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Wednesday said relations between Zimbabwe and the United States had improved considerably to an extent the sides now engaged in dialogue, something that never happened before.

Relations between US and Zimbabwe became sour when Washington imposed sanctions on Harare at the turn of the millennium as punishment for the government’s decision to acquire excess farmland from whites to resettle landless blacks.

The sanctions prohibit targeted senior government officials from travelling to the U.S as well as American companies from conducting business with or on behalf of targeted Zimbabwean companies.

As a result, Zimbabwe has suffered economic damage estimated at US$42 billion in the last two decades.

It had been hoped the embargo would be lifted after a change of government in 2017 when President Mnangagwa’s administration came in.

Nonetheless, President Mnangagwa told Bloomberg television at the World Economic Forum on Africa here that Zimbabwe was making progress in its re-engagement with the U.S.

“We have rejoined the family of nations. I am happy that dialogue with the Trump (Donald) administration is ongoing. I am happy with the progress we are so far making, which has never happened in the last 20 years.”

He added: “We are moving at the pace of what is possible. We know where we want to go.”

Commenting on economic prospects for Zimbabwe, currently beset by a myriad of challenges, President Mnangagwa expressed confidence that he would ‘resurrect’ the economy.

“We are beginning from the bottom of the trough. I am in charge of my country, and I must look at what is necessary to resurrect and to grow my economy.”

“There are resources at our disposal. The resources we have must be exploited, we must create a situation, an environment to attract global capital,” he said.

President Mnangagwa is attending the 28th edition of the WEF for Africa.

The WEF is an independent, international organisation whose aim is to help expand global economic interface by companies and countries by engaging business, political leaders, academia and other leaders of society.

It is the second time for President Mnangagwa to attend the WEF after his debut in Davos, Switzerland in 2018 where he used the opportunity to re-engage international investors under the mantra, ‘Zimbabwe is Open for business’.

New Ziana