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Fungi Kwaramba Political Editor

ZIMBABWE is poised for greatness through the re-engagement and engagement drive by President Mnangagwa, a foreign policy that has unlocked numerous opportunities and has the potential to help clear the country’s debts through dialogue.

After meeting President Mnangagwa at State House in Harare yesterday, Zimbabwe’s arrears and clearance and debt resolution champions, former Mozambican President Joachim Chissano and African Development Bank Group (ADB) president Dr Akinwumi Adesina, were upbeat that the future of Zimbabwe is bright.

The two, who attended the Second Structured Dialogue Platform between Zimbabwe and her creditors in the capital on Thursday, said engagement will open a new era of co-operation between Zimbabwe and the rest of the world.

“We came here to meet the President after the meetings (with creditors) yesterday (Thursday) to discuss how we saw the meetings. We are all satisfied with what happened during this space.

“We are hoping for the success of the forthcoming meetings. We took advantage of being with President Mnangagwa to clarify certain issues to facilitate our work so that we understand fully the policies of Zimbabwe so that when we talk, we know what we are talking about. Our work with partners, and our role is to bridge Zimbabwe with other partners so that we start a new era of co-operation,” Cde Chissano said.

On his part, Dr Adesina noted Zimbabwe’s strong commitment to pay its debts, in particular President Mnangagwa’s desire to improve the livelihoods of Zimbabweans.

“We are delighted to come here to brief the President, and we leave this State House very enthused by his energy, his determination, his engagement, and his commitment towards this dialogue, towards arrears clearance and resolution.

“We also had an opportunity to brief President Mnangagwa on the outcome of the dialogue yesterday (Thursday), and he was very, very pleased, and we are leaving very positive, the energy is there, the commitment is there, and we need to keep working.

“At the end of the day, it’s a better and prosperous Zimbabwe we are looking for. Everyone is committed that we succeed.

“We will be back, but the President’s leadership is very crucial and we are very grateful to him for showing that leadership,” he said.

More than 17 countries from the Paris Club of creditor nations attended the highly subscribed meeting, along with the World Bank, and European Investment Bank, to discuss the roadmap towards settling Zimbabwe’s debts.

Despite being under illegal economic sanctions, Zimbabwe has shown its commitment to clear existing debts, which continue to weigh down the country’s growth prospects.

The debt clearance strategy is expected to give impetus to the Second Republic’s target of making Zimbabwe an upper-middle-class economy by 2030.

The meeting that took place this week follows an initial dialogue held on the 1st of December 2022 involving the Government and various stakeholders.