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Ivan Zhakata Herald Correspondent

A Russian business delegation led by the Minister of Foreign Economic Relations of the Sverdlovsk Region of the Russian Federation, Yarin Vyacheslav has arrived in the country to explore areas of cooperation in the mining sector.

The delegation will be in the country for three-days.

 The delegation was received yesterday at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport in Harare by the Minister of Provincial Affairs and Devolution for Midlands Province Larry Mavima, whose province will be twinned with Sverdlock.

They were also accompanied by the deputy minister of Industry and Trade of the Sverdlovsk Region Igor Zelenkin and a business delegation.

In an interview, Minister Vyacheslav said the visit was aimed at strengthening the economic cooperation between Russia and Zimbabwe.

“Zimbabwe is a powerhouse in the SADC region in terms of mining and metallurgy and we have promising areas of cooperation and I promise that the areas of mutual interest will move our cooperation further,” he said.

“We had a good exchange with Minister Mavima and he said his province is key on mining, machinery and value addition and I am sure that during the visit we discuss these issues and we will reach countable results. In order to reinforce and move forward the cooperation between our two countries we will have a chance to invite your side to visit the conference in Russia so that you can see what we have and what our side has to offer.”

Deputy Minister Zelenkin said they were in the country to explore the mining opportunities the Midlands province has to offer. “While Midlands is a powerhouse which specialises in mining and machinery, tomorrow (today) we will give you detailed information on what we are good at. Primarily we want to focus on production of black and carbon metallurgy and this is a very vital step through production of value addition products,” he said.

Minister Mavima said they had been working with the Russians for the past two and half years in his province in the mining sector.

“Our aim is to achieve a twin arrangement between their region and the Midlands province so that we exchange ideas and investment opportunities which we seem to have in abundance. We are really excited about this visit and we welcome them to Zimbabwe.”

During the delegation’s visit, Minister Vyacheslav is expected to hold meetings with the Minister of Industry and Commerce Dr Sekai Nzenza and captains of industry as part of efforts to discuss potential areas of economic cooperation between Zimbabwe and the Sverdlovsk Region of Russia.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade spokesperson Mr Livit Mugejo said the meeting will also be attended by Minister Mavima, as the two nations intend to establish a twinning arrangement between the Midlands province and the Sverdlovsk Region of Russia.

“During the visit, the delegation will also tour industrial sites specialising in machinery and equipment for timber processing, the production of rubber and pharmaceutical substances,” Mr Mugejo said. 

“To cap the visit, a roundtable business discussion will be held on March 2, 2023, as Zimbabwe and the Russian Federation broaden their cooperation on account of the existing excellent political relations.”

“So, we are proud of having such sincere and true friends. And down with the sanctions and other illegal attempts to curb the movement of sovereign and self-respecting nations towards a new multipolar world order based on principals of mutual respect which are enshrined in the United Nations Charter.”