Fungi Kwaramba-Political Editor
ZIMBABWE and Nigeria will revive their Joint Commission as part of the Second Republic’s commitment to advance economic cooperation and trade regionally.
This emerged after Nigeria’s new Ambassador to Zimbabwe Mr Zachariah Mallam Ifu submitted his credentials to President Mnangagwa at State House yesterday.
In an interview after a tête-à-tête with the President, Mr. Ifu said there is much that Nigeria can offer Zimbabwe in terms of economic cooperation particularly in the field of tourism.
“The emphasis is to advance our economic cooperation and trade. We need to revive the Joint Commission between Nigeria and Zimbabwe so as to have more cooperation in terms of people-to-people cooperation. The President is willing to walk with Nigeria to improve the cordial relationship between the two countries,” said Mr Ifu.
He added that although Zimbabwe and Nigeria have had long and enduring ties not much had been done in terms of people-to-people interaction.
“Economically we are looking at cooperating in the field of agriculture mining and tourism which we believe Nigerian business has a lot to offer Zimbabwe in that field.”
With a population of over 200 million Nigeria is Africa’s biggest economy sitting on 37 070 000 000 barrels of proven oil reserves as of 2016 and ranking 10th in the world in terms of production.
Since the coming in of the Second Republic, President Mnangagwa has been championing engagement and re-engagement with all countries, and he also added the International Trade component to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and ambassadors are required to advance economic diplomacy.
The overall aim is to facilitate economic and commercial exchanges between Zimbabwe and strategic partners, while also positioning local businesses to increase exports to a diversity of markets and attract sustainable investments from strategic countries.