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Lloyd Gumbo Senior Reporter
Government expects the country to benefit economically from its co-operation with China, especially in the area of information communication technology, a sector that has transformed the Asian country into a global economic powerhouse.

Information, Communication Technology and Courier Services Minister Supa Mandiwanzira made the remarks when Chinese ambassador to Zimbabwe, Mr Lin Lin, paid a courtesy call on him last week.

Minister Mandiwanzira, who was flanked by his deputy Dr Win Mlambo and permanent secretary in the ministry, Dr Sam Kundishora, said China’s economic boom was as a result of technological innovation.

“China is today a leading country in terms of technology and Zimbabwe has a lot to benefit by engaging the Asian country,” he said.

“The biggest technology company in the world today is Chinese and it’s Huawei.”

Minister Mandiwanzira said a number of Chinese companies had running projects with Zimbabwe’s mobile phone operators, as such Government would be inclined to open up more opportunities for Chinese companies to invest in the in ICT sector.

He said a US$218 million loan to NetOne from China Export and Import Bank towards its network expansion was testimony to its goodwill. The deal was signed during President Mugabe’s State visit to China last year. “If you look at the way China is growing, technology is at the centre of that growth,” said Minister Mandiwanzira.

“If you look at the number of billionaires in this world, the biggest number is coming out of China and most of those people are coming out from technology industries.”

Minister Mandiwanzira said Zimbabwe and China would encourage private companies from the two countries to engage each other without banking on government-to-government deals.

Ambassador Lin said the two countries would benefit from economic co-operation.

“We are also trying to encourage Chinese companies in the ICT area to start investing in this country, not only by using loans provided by financial institutions of China, which is kind of government-to-government co-operation, but we will also try to encourage companies to do their own investment. That way we can have more co-operation, more projects being carried out,” said Ambassador Lin.