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Zvamaida Murwira Senior Reporter

China Everbright Bank has not proscribed services to Zimbabwean customers and will continue transacting with clients in line with its business mandate and policies.

This was confirmed by an official at the Chinese Embassy in Harare yesterday in a comment following a story carried by an online publication, NewZimbabwe.com claiming that the bank had placed Zimbabwe on a list of countries it will not be dealing with.

The official dismissed the report and said Everbright, a Chinese government-owned financial institution, would continue doing business with Zimbabwe. The official emphasised that Asian country was, in fact, against the imposition of sanctions on Zimbabwe and attached great importance to the development of comprehensive strategic partnerships between the two countries.

“China Everbright Bank has not banned transactions with Zimbabwe and will continue to provide financial services to Zimbabwean customers in accordance with the relevant laws and regulations,” said the offficial.

“Reports circulating on some online platforms are fabricated and fake news which are no doubt calculated to undermine the bilateral relations between our two countries.”

Bilateral relations between Zimbabwe and China remained strong and continued to deepen by the  day.

“The relations between the two countries are strong and can never be shaken. China and Zimbabwe enjoy traditional and good relations that will continue to grow. China attaches great importance to the development of (a) comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation between the two countries. We will continue to provide support within our capacity to Zimbabwe in its endeavour of economic prosperity and social development,” said the official, adding:

“We take this opportunity to unequivocally state that China is opposed to any form of sanctions against Zimbabwe. We call for the immediate removal of sanctions by Western countries and stay and work with the Government of Zimbabwe to create a conducive environment for the improvement of the well-being of the people of this great country.”