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Ropafadzo Ndangariro Herald Reporter
Zimbabwe and India yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) extending the Indo-Zimbabwe project, which is designed to help local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to be technologically equipped.

Speaking during the signing ceremony in Harare, Industry, Commerce and Enterprise Development Minister Dr Mike Bimha said the project, which was formed in 2006, was meant to technologically equip SMEs in various sectors.

“The project is meant to promote access to technology by SMEs in the field of Tool and Die, Computer Numerical Control (CNC) and Computer-aided Manufacturing (CAM), plastic products manufacturing, as well as carpentry and metal fabrication,” said Dr Bimha.

Tool and Die are described as machinists in the manufacturing industries who make jigs, fixtures, dies, molds, machine tools, cutting tools, gauges, and other tools used in manufacturing processes, while CNC is the automation of machine tools by means of computers executing pre-programmed sequences of machine control command.

Dr Bimha thanked the Indian government for their support.

“The Ministry looks forward to partner HMT India (a private company) to upgrade technology at the Indo-Zimbabwe Technology Centre so that the country continues to be at the forefront of technology development in the region,” he said.

Indian Ambassador to Zimbabwe Mr Rungsung Masakui said the joint project played a critical role in developing the country.

“After more than 10 years of this project, assessments have been made on the impact of the project to the development of the SME sector, the study results show that the project has played a positive role and has had impact on creating jobs and enhancing capacity and capability of SME sector,” said Ambassador Masakui.

“The two governments have agreed to upgrade technology to help meet the needs in the developing SMEs,” he said.