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Herald Reporters

Zimbabwe should fully gain its authority over its economy, natural resources and everything else with the State of Palestine standing ready to cement the two countries’ strong relations, visiting Palestinian Foreign Minister Dr Riad Malki has said.

Dr Malki, who is a special envoy of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, is leading a delegation from his country on a three-day visit during which he has pledged to deepen bilateral relations with Zimbabwe.

Speaking after paying a courtesy call on President Mnangagwa at State House in Harare yesterday, Dr Malki said Palestine was willing to support Zimbabwe in various sectors including agriculture and medicine among others.

The cordial relations between Zimbabwe and Palestine were bound by “blood” and would continue to be enhanced in all spheres.

“That is why we are here to first of all show our solidarity with Zimbabwe and our position against the imposition of illegal sanctions against the country.

“At the same time show our steadfastness in support of Zimbabwe to regain its full control and authority over its economy, natural resources and everything else,” he said.

Dr Malki added: “We in Palestine want to offer our knowledge and expertise in the different areas especially agriculture, medicine and other areas.”

He said they met with President Mnangagwa back in Addis Ababa during the African Union Summit and agreed to come here and to continue the discussion.

“We will meet with different ministers in order to identify the type of needs that we can really fulfil in terms of our knowledge and expertise.

“This is something that we are doing to Zimbabwe as if we are doing it to ourselves because we feel this is really our commitment, responsibility to Zimbabwean brothers and sisters,” said Dr Malki.

The Palestine Foreign Affairs Minister said their nation feels it has a long-term commitment which it should continue having in helping Zimbabwe achieve its goals.

“This is a blood bond that really brings us together always. This is really what we have heard from the President. I do believe that you will see us more often here in Zimbabwe.

“You will be ready to work closely with our counterparts in Zimbabwe for the sake of improving, widening and deepening our bilateral relations between Zimbabwe and Palestine,” he said.

Dr Malki expressed gratitude to be received by President Mnangagwa saying they had a “very frank, amicable, open, friendly discussion”.

“Always the discussion between Zimbabwe and Palestine is like that between brothers, comrades. We talked about the time we were fighting the same enemy occupation, colonisation of course, Zimbabwe got independence in 1980 Palestine is still fighting for its freedom and for independence.

“However, at the same time we talked about what we can do together to support each other in international fora politically, diplomatically, but also how we can support each other in terms of knowledge and expertise in different areas,” he said.

Dr Malki said the meeting with the President was a huge success.

“So, we are so pleased with the meeting, audience with the President. We listened to him carefully and we felt that the meeting was a great success.

“We will convey his greetings to the Palestine president Mahmoud Abbas. We will do whatever is needed to improve our bilateral relations,” he   said.

After meeting President Mnangagwa, Dr Malki later paid a courtesy call on Senate President, Cde Mable Chinomona where he again expressed solidarity with Zimbabwe.

“We have exchanged views with the madam President, how we can strengthen our excellent bilateral relations between the Senate and Palestinian Parliament. 

“We have exchanged some ideas and I do believe we will implement those ideas as soon as possible and we also talked about other dimensions of our relationship,” Dr Malki said.

He extended an invitation to Cde Chinomona to visit the Palestinian Parliament at the earliest possible time.

He also met Vice President Constantino Chiwenga later in the afternoon and further expressed  Palestine’s commitment  to deepen  existing bilateral relations with Zimbabwe.  

“He (Dr Chiwenga) encouraged Palestine business community to come and invest in Zimbabwe and we would like to do that very much,” he said. 

“We will give transparent information regarding the potentiality of investment in Zimbabwe and to encourage our business community to come and invest.”

Cooperation between the State of Palestine and Zimbabwe is historical given the shared bonds of solidarity exemplified by the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) towards Zimbabwe’s liberation movements during the days of the country’s struggle for independence.

Following the attainment of Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980, the PLO subsequently appointed a representative in Harare.

Upon the Declaration of the State of Palestine in 1988, Zimbabwe became one of the first African states to extend full diplomatic recognition to the State of Palestine, again, a testament to the strong ties between the two   states.

To date, the two countries enjoy cooperation in the fields of media, agriculture and other sectors. Zimbabwe and Palestine are also exploring mechanisms to cement ties further while leveraging on the excellent political and diplomatic relations.

Zimbabwe and Palestine enjoy warm bilateral relations backdating to the liberation struggle in the 1970s.