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Kudakwashe Mugari in Sochi city, Russia

Zimbabwe has potential to lure more Russian investors if it eradicates bureaucracy, Harare’s representative in Moscow Ambassador Major-General Mike Sango (Rtd) has said.

Speaking in an interview with The Herald here yesterday, Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to the Russian Federation Major-General Sango (Rtd) said more Russian companies were willing to invest in Zimbabwe, but have been frustrated by bureaucracy in some Government ministries.

He said that the country was in good stead to attain a middle income economy by 2030 if it processes investment proposals expeditiously.

“A lot of Russian companies are willing to come and invest in Zimbabwe, but at times our bureaucracy discourages them from doing so.

“During the Joint Commission we had companies that showed interest in investing in the country and presented projects in the area of energy and mining, but they are still waiting for the responses from our Government.

“This is the challenge we have. I briefed the President about this and I hope that he is going to help us address this situation,” Ambassador Sango said.

He urged all Government ministries to pull in one direction in order to make Vision 2030 a reality.

“What we are appealing for as ambassadors is for our ministries to be proactive and to respond positively to these gestures coming from the Russian businesses,” he said.

“We want to promote the President’s vision of attaining a middle income economy by 2030, but we cannot get there if we don’t have everybody on board supporting this vision.

“It requires everyone to put his head together to support this vision so that in 2030 we have a different economy and a different country,” Ambassador Sango said.

During President Mnangagwa’s visit here in January, Russia and Zimbabwe signed bilateral cooperation agreements such as the Memorandum of Understanding between the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation and Zimbabwe Chamber of Commerce, Mining Licence Agreement between the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development and the Russian-Zimbabwe Company Great Dyke Investment (Pvt) Limited and Memorandum of Understanding between Uralchem JSC and the Government on the supply of fertilisers to the African market.