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Tedious Manyepo Herald Reporter
Acting Japanese Ambassador to Zimbabwe Mr David Tsunakake has hailed President Mugabe for creating a conducive environment that has seen his country seriously considering investing in Zimbabwe.

In an interview on the sidelines of Africa Business Idea Cup 2016 in Harare recently, Mr Tsunakake said Japan was ready to invest in Zimbabwe as President Mugabe’s leadership qualities had boosted his country’s confidence in the economy.

He said some investors in his country were trying to find areas on which they could explore probably by the end of this year.

“President Mugabe has created a very good atmosphere in the country that will certainly boost investor confidence. The country is actually one of the safest to invest in. I can tell you that Japan is now ready to invest in Zimbabwe. Currently, our investors are trying to find out which sectors they can invest in. But, obviously we stand to be guided by Zimbabweans on where to invest,” he said.

He said that the Zimbabwean phase of the Africa Business Cup 2016, which was bankrolled by a Tanzanian-based Japanese company, Trickstar and contested for by nine young entrepreneurs, was meant to enable Zimbabweans to come up with innovative and practical business ideas that Japan could explore.

“We believe that Zimbabweans are quite educated and can bring up very good business ideas. That is local solutions to local problems so we are saying we could invest in those ideas. I think through platforms like these we can have some workable investments,”

Mr Tsunakake said the Japanese would invest in Zimbabwe as a follow up to the commitment made by President Mugabe and his Japanese counterpart Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in March in the Asian country when the two leaders signed a historic bilateral pact.

Said Mr Tsunakake: “As you might be aware, His Excellency President Mugabe visited Japan in March 2016. He had a very fruitful discussion in the bilateral summit meeting with his counterpart, His Excellency Prime Minister Abe. After the summit meeting, both our leaders signed a joint statement, which can be deemed as one of the historical documents in our bilateral relationship between Japan and Zimbabwe.”