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Herald Reporter

The Russian Federation has requested Zimbabwe’s backing in its bid to host the World Expo 2030, a top envoy of President Vladimir Putin’s Government has said.

This Expo is a proposed world’s fair to be held in 2030, and Russia hopes to host the expo for the first time in history. Russia, South Korea, Italy, Ukraine, and Saudi Arabia have submitted bids to hold the event.

Russia deployed a top envoy to Zimbabwe – Evgeny Primakov, the head of the federal agency – who paid a courtesy call on Acting President Dr Constantino Chiwenga.

Although the two countries enjoy excellent relations and have many areas of cooperation like scientific collaboration and education, the visiting envoy said the main purpose of his visit was to seek Zimbabwe’s support to host the Expo.

“The main one was our bid to host the Expo 2030 in Moscow. We hope very much Zimbabwe supports us,” said Mr Primakov after meeting the Acting President at his offices in Harare yesterday.

“We are very much positive regarding that issue. Moscow is absolutely ready to host it. We have the state-of-art healthcare system, transport system, we have all the venues needed to host.”

Asked of their collaboration with Zimbabwe he said, “we have a lot; our agency runs quotas for higher education in Russia for foreign students financed by the Russian government. This is one of our main goals to give education to Zimbabweans.”

Mr Primakov said they are also seeking to exploit excellent bilateral relations that exist between the two countries to expand collaboration in various sectors.

After the Russian capital applied for the right to host the World Expo 2030, they have a site which talks of the proposed Expo and they are using it to push their agenda.

“It is our way of calling on the international community to direct efforts towards creating a more equitable and sustainable world order, in which human comfort would be inextricably linked with living in harmony with the environment,” reads part of the message on their website.

“The World Expo is the largest international event on the planet. Here, the participating countries present themselves to the whole world, demonstrate the latest developments in the fields of technology and science, as well as their cultural achievements and new architectural masterpieces, and in recent years they have set forward initiatives in solving global problems.”

Zimbabwe is participating at the Expo Dubai 2030 with a re-engagement and investment charm offensive that has attracted potential investors, the country’s presentation at the ongoing Expo might have impressed many who now want an ally in this regard.

Zimbabwe has been inundated with investment inquiries at the ongoing Expo Dubai 2020 with close to 200 000 people visiting the country’s pavilion.

This comes after authorities from the country led by Dr Chiwenga last year visited and presented moving investment cases.