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Herald Reporters—
Government has set up a special Cabinet Committee to co-ordinate aid inflows and determine financing priorities in line with the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation.
Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa told journalists at the signing of a US$20 million contribution from Denmark yesterday that a Government-led Framework for Aid Co-ordination Architecture had been adopted.

The Cabinet Committee’s terms of reference include determining Government priorities for aid financing, enhancing accountability in funds use, minimising duplications, ensuring funds are channelled through the Vote of Credit and periodically reporting to Cabinet on aid inflows, utilisation and effectiveness as enshrined in Zim-Asset.
Minister Chinamasa chairs the 14-ministry committee.

“The Cabinet Committee on Aid Co-ordination will be supported by a working party of senior officials, co-chaired by the Deputy Chief Secretary in the Office of the President and Cabinet and the Secretary to the Treasury,” said Minister Chinamasa.

He said Denmark’s US$20 contribution to infrastructure rehabilitation was a step towards normalisation of relations with the Nordic country.

“What is significant about this event is not the US$20 million contribution to Zimbabwe, which is most welcome, but that Denmark and Zimbabwe are finding each other to restore our political and economic relations to what they were prior to the land reform programme,” he said.

“So, when I advised Cabinet last Tuesday about this event, His Excellency (President Mugabe) recalled that you (Denmark) were one of the major contributors to the liberation struggle. He wondered what had happened to our friendship, so I said that we are doing what we can to mend that relationship.

“What we are doing today is a first step towards mending that relationship.”

Denmark’s Ambassador to Zimbabwe Mr Erik Brøgger Rasmussen responded: “We have been here for a long time, but we also ran away at some point in time.

“But we are back which is a testimony that we make a difference in this country.”

Meanwhile, Environment, Water and Climate Change Minister Saviour Kasukuwere yesterday launched a US$17,7 million programme funded by the European Union and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation to support natural resources management and promote food security.

It will target forestry, fisheries, wildlife, research and soil, water, conservation and livestock management over the next five years. Minister Kasukuwere said, “This result-based agenda is built around four strategic clusters, one of which is Food Security and Nutrition, is the basis of the implementation of most aspects of the EU-funded programme.

“In view of the rapid climatic changes the world is currently experiencing, it is prudent that the EU has come up with the idea of funding a plethora of projects and programmes intended to effect sustainable natural resources management for improved food security of our vulnerable communities.”

EU Ambassador to Zimbabwe Mr Aldo Dell’Ariccia said the bloc was committed to assisting through economic development.