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WE hail the interface between President Mugabe and Business, who last week met to exchange views on the challenges facing the nation and how they can be overcome. The Presidential-Business Interface, the first of its kind in recent years, was providential in that — in the absence of regular meetings of the Tripartite Negotiating Forum — it enabled political and business leaders to find each other and in the process strive for common goals in the quest for speedy socio-economic turnaround.

Such engagement are integral to the economic turnaround we all aspire for. In fact we urge Government to organise more such sector-specific interfaces to promote the spirit of dialogue pursuant to resolving the multi-faceted challenges facing the nation.

There is no doubt that the interface presented a practical opportunity for mutually beneficial, frank exchanges and networking that are vital to finding common ground for speedy economic recovery.

We are encouraged by the positive signals that came from business through captains of industry, some of whom are on record decrying the effects of the economic sanctions regime on the economy.

Previously, captains of industry had stood aloof as if economic sanctions were a purely political issue.

Politicians and business leaders need each other. Political leaders formulate policies that foster an enabling environment for business to flourish while business provides the much needed taxes to the fiscus to drive Government programmes.

It is, therefore, in both parties interests to pursue a mutually beneficial relationship

The enormity of the challenges to be overcome requires collective efforts from all sectors for even where different viewpoints prevail as it is only through dialogue that we can identify the supreme view that can be translated into policy for the betterment of the nation.

Once again we stress the importance of using the institutional forums at our disposal to discuss and resolve differences.

To this end we urge the Tripartite Negotiating Forum to shake off the cobwebs and buy into the prevailing spirit of all stakeholder consultation.

TNF has been the missing link in the ongoing spirit of all-stakeholder co-operation and commitment towards people-centred socioeconomic transformation.

It is only under the auspices of the TNF that a sustainable social contract, which would help to remove the artificial investment risk tag foisted on the country by forces opposed to the adoption of people-centred programmes by Government, can be revived and developed.