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Herald Reporter

PRESIDENT Mnangagwa’s contribution towards the creation of the Russia-Africa Partnership last year will enable Harare and Moscow to enhance economic cooperation as well as fight the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.

In a statement to mark the Russian Federation National Day, which has been observed since the fall of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR) in 1990, on June 12, Ambassador Nikolai V. Krasilnikov said although the journey towards sustainable socio-economic development has been difficult for the Eurasian giant, it is now in a position to support the New Dispensation realise it’s vision of economic transformation.

“The path to the sustainable socio-economic development has been full of difficult stages. Nowadays, Russia is capable of supporting the Second Republic under the New Dispensation through investment and transfer of technologies with the major bilateral mining projects of Darwendale and ALrosa in a spotlight.

“The mechanism of Russia-Africa Partnership established last year with the great contribution of H.E. President of the Republic of Zimbabwe Cde E.D. Mnangagwa will enable Moscow and Harare to promote cooperation in such a specific area as the efforts to counter the coronavirus pandemic,” said Ambassador Krasilnikov.

Russia carved a prominent niche in Africa by supporting the struggle for decolonisation against white minority rule. Over the past few years, Zimbabwe, under the Second Republic, has cemented ties that exist between the two countries that were forged during the country’s liberation struggle.

At the Russia-Africa Summit that was co-chaired by Russian President Vladimir Putin and the then African Union (AU) chairperson Abdel Fattah Al-sissi, President Mnangagwa said cooperation between Africa and Russia is the way to go.

“This is the first meeting of the Russian Federation and the entire African continent. Russia assisted us to gain independence and this time around we are here to promote economic trade cooperation between our two countries and this is the way to go,” he said.

“During my last visit, I had a long discussion with President Putin and we agreed that we must improve on economic cooperation. In my country there are many opportunities for Russian investors and they are welcome to invest.

“So far we have several companies that have come to invest in the mining sector. We already have Alrosa mining company that has established an office and done exploration, now ready to do the mining. Russian companies interested in mining gold have also done their exploration. Thirdly, we also have a Russian mining company that has come to mine platinum and we are happy that we have more and more Russian companies interested in doing business with us.”

Ambassador Krasilnikov described relations between Zimbabwe and Russia as “deep-rooted and cordial”.