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Mukudzei Chingwere recently in JAKARTA, Indonesia

Indonesia is eager to see the expediting of investment negotiations with Zimbabwe so that the desired deals immediately take-off, Indonesian Vice President Ma’ruf Amin said this week.

After meeting Vice President Constantino Chiwenga on the sidelines of the recent Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, Sector Ministers Meeting held in Jakarta he directed his officials to ensure all proposed investment negotiations were deliberated on swiftly so that once agreements were reached, the projects kick-off.

His call to action comes as bureaucracy has been cited as a common impediment to investment the world over.

Indonesia is seeking engagement with Zimbabwe in the areas of health, agriculture and infrastructure development, and the next stage after the engagements is the signing of memorandum of understandings.

Zimbabwe has been attracting a lot of investor interest on the back of the Government’s deliberate policy on investment promotion as an anchor of President Mnangagwa’s Vision 2030 of an upper middle income society.

In an interview, Indonesian Ambassador to Zimbabwe Dewa Sastrawan, said: “My Vice President (Amin) said this is a very good initiative and agreed what we are planning in Zimbabwe.

“He is very supportive and he would like me and the working parties in Zimbabwe to develop a memorandum of understanding to give the agreements a binding documentation.

“VP Chiwenga invited my VP to visit Zimbabwe and he said, ‘God willing’ he will visit Zimbabwe. If we have these projects in place he will visit Zimbabwe.”

Ambassador Sastrawan said Zimbabwe would like direct import of palm oil, and there was need to connect the railway in Zimbabwe to Mozambique to open channels for trade. Palm oil is major component in a wide range of consumer products such as soaps and artificial creamers.

“After the meeting of the two leaders, it is left for me and the working levels to work. I will talk to Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency and other responsible authorities in Zimbabwe.”

Zimbabwe is angling to tap from the Indonesian experience, which according to the World Bank, has seen them developing to become the world’s 10th largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity, thus slashing poverty prevalence by more than half since 1999.

VP Chiwenga said he had instructed Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to Indonesia Sophia Nyamudeza and Agriculture Minister Dr Anxious Masuka, to look into the issue of buying palm oil directly from Jakarta rather than buying through third parties.

Speaking after touring Bio Farma, the manufacturer of medical consumables, VP Chiwenga said Zimbabwe was willing to listen to the proposal by the Indonesians.

“As Minister of Health and Child Care, I fully welcome your interest to partner with NatPharm, which is wholly owned by the Government to manufacture pharmaceutical products including vaccines in Zimbabwe.

“We are ready to receive you in Zimbabwe to discuss this proposal.”

After touring a company that expressed interest to partner the National Railways of Zimbabwe in a deal that could finally see the revitalisation and modernisation of the company, VP Chiwenga said the proposed investment was welcome.

“I want to assure you that the relevant authorities are considering your submissions. The railway rehabilitation project is important for the revival of our economy,” said VP Chiwenga.

“We want a strong railway system that is efficient to facilitate movement of our exports and imports to and from the coasts as we are a landlocked country.”