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Walter Nyamukondiwa Chinhoyi Bureau
Visiting Kavango East region governor in Namibia Ambassador Dr Samuel Kaveto Mbambo, has hailed Government’s empowerment programmes that position youths to play a key role in national economic development.Speaking on the sidelines of a tour of Pickstone Peerless Mine in Chegutu on Wednesday, Dr Mbambo said Government had taken a deliberate stance to facilitate the venturing of youths into sectors such as mining.

The remarks come at a time President Mugabe has further cemented his commitment to assisting youths through provincial interactions to get their aspirations and challenges. Said Dr Mbambo: “The most important lesson is that the Government of Zimbabwe is really protecting young people and at the same time preparing them for the future to take over one day when they are strong enough.

He hailed the participation of youths in the mining sector. Dr Mbambo is heading a 35-member delegation from Namibia’s Kavango East region to explore areas of possible co-operation and business opportunities.

The five-day tour of Mashonaland West province is at the invitation of Provincial Affairs Minister Cde Faber Chidarikire. Dr Mbambo said the province was interested in learning food production processes.

“The interest that brought us here is the food production business. Whatever has to do with food is very important for us to learn from our brothers and sisters in Zimbabwe,” he said. “We want to learn how they are going about producing their food and ensure that they are economically viable.” The delegation toured Best Fruit Processors in Norton, Pickstone Mine and Kadoma Paper Mills on Monday.

Government’s raft of measures including value addition and beneficiation of agriculture produce and Command Agriculture have charmed the delegation. “We will sit down and talk about possible areas of co-operation in terms of agriculture, food production, but also value addition factories, which we can learn from them (Zimbabwe),’’ said Dr Mbambo.

Co-operation is also expected to extend to education, where the Namibians say they have something to learn from. Minister of State for Mashonaland West Provincial Affairs Cde Faber Chidarikire described the visit as an opportunity for the province to showcase some of the projects and products they have. “This is really a way of trying to promote business coming into this country so that we increase our exports and thereby boost our economic turnaround,’’ he said.

The delegation was impressed by the recycling of paper at Kadoma Paper Mills, saying there was a lot of waste paper in Namibia that can be brought for recycling.