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Zimbabwe is seeking to deepen its trade and investment relations with China. As part of enhancing these relations, a high level Zimbabwe delegation led by Professor Mthuli Ncube, Zimbabwe’s Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion paid a week-long visit to China to attract more Chinese investment.

The delegation had wide exchanges with Chinese government officials and business leaders. Highlighting the mission were the Zimbabwe Capital Markets Conference held in Beijing and Shanghai, where the delegation shed light on Zimbabwe’s investment policies and pin-pointed areas for further collaboration.

Addressing the gathering in Beijing, Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion Permanent Secretary Mr Andrew Bvumbe underscored the immense potential for enhanced collaboration in mining, agriculture and tourism sectors.

Data from China’s General Administration of Customs shows trade between China and Zimbabwe reached a total volume of US$3.1 billion in 2023, up by 29.9 percent.

For more on the economic and trade cooperation between Zimbabwe and China, Bridget Mutambirwa (BM) Host China Africa Talk caught up with Mr Andrew Bvumbe (AB) during his visit to China.

BM: Mr Bvumbe, what makes Zimbabwe stand out as an attractive destination for Chinese investors? What would you like to say to potential Chinese investors considering Zimbabwe?

AB: For us, I think it’s about the endowments which Zimbabwe has. I think investors are looking for the potential. But for us as government, we are looking at moving beyond potential. We want action. We want investment. So there are a number of areas where there is a comparative advantage for Zimbabwe. One, in the mining sector, I think we have all the minerals you can think about in Zimbabwe. And as of now, there is much interest in the green mining resources. That is lithium and cobalt. That is one area we strongly feel we can work with China.

We hope that we can build relationships on the mining side of these green energy resources. And also, we believe that it’s high time Africa started beneficiating from its own natural resources. We’d expect that we should be able to start manufacturing lithium batteries, and also eventually move towards the manufacturing of electric vehicles. We don’t see any reason why this cannot happen. Two, we have arable land, plenty of arable land. Africa is the place where the arable land is, with over 640 million hectares. And part of that is in Zimbabwe.

Again, we can promote the manufacturing sector through agriculture. We produce the commodities and then we value add. Here in China, there is the technology in terms of mechanization and also large commercial farming. So we want to return Zimbabwe being a regional food basket. And we see potential collaboration with the Chinese counterparts for that to be achieved. Thirdly, Zimbabwe has the skills. If you compare regionally, our education index is very high and most investors want to go where people have the skills. So yes, these are some of the competitive advantages that Zimbabwe has.

BM: China is one of Zimbabwe’s major trading partners. Could you give us an overall assessment of the current state of the Zimbabwe China economic bilateral relations? What are the most promising projects for economic cooperation?

AB: Our cooperation dates back before independence, during our liberation struggles. And this has been strengthened after independence. We have had quite a strong relationship with China. And it has always been an all-weather friend in all circumstances. Even under sanctions, China is one of the few countries that have come to us, to our rescue, carrying out trading and building infrastructural projects, with funding through China Eximbank.

Our cooperation is very strong. We’ve had support in terms of financing of projects. The recent one, which I would want to mention, is the Hwange 7 and 8 Rehabilitation Projects, where the Chinese came in and rehabilitated the coal — powered project in Hwange. And now, we are producing 600 megawatts of electricity. And this came at a right time, when there was a huge deficit. So you can see the strategic relationship we have with our Chinese counterparts here. But what we are trying to look at also is how we now look at the opportunities at the economic level, and at the production level. And recently, we have been exploring the issue of the citrus area where we would want to start exporting citrus fruits to China. As you’re aware, we produce quite a lot of citrus fruits in the southern part of the country.

We are going through the process. We hope that this will be another milestone for Zimbabwe to come in. We also see great potential in other areas, including the macadamia, avocados and blueberries. Zimbabwe is producing quite a lot of blueberries and of qualities which are exporting to Europe and elsewhere. We would love those to come to China.

BM: At the recently held second ED Mnangagwa Business Summit in Harare, President Emmerson Mnangagwa emphasised the importance of adopting further strategies to foster industrialisation, in particular, through the value addition of the country’s local resources. In this context, which areas or industries in Zimbabwe are excelling and offer potential for deepening economic cooperation with China, especially to promote industrialisation?

AB: I think the issue where we are now with an industrial policy is being developed, and that should be out fairly soon, that is prioritising the areas of focus for industrialisation. As I’ve said earlier on, we have the minerals; we have the agricultural land; we have the tourist resort areas. All that potential really is what we want to exploit. Especially now that green growth is now the password for all the economies. We have to make sure that we are part of that process as well as we decarbonie the economy. So we will be looking at that industrialisation, which is green. And that green industrialisation also ensures that we contribute to the de-carbonisation of the global environment. And if you look at the numbers, they are talking about trillion dollar business globally. And China is the biggest manufacturer of electric vehicles.

We are here to look at all those issues to see how we now localize this critical industry, because it will create the jobs. It will create and generate the foreign exchange within the region and globally. It will put us on the map as one of the countries going for green growth. This is an area where there is huge potential. Also in terms of agriculture, I think one of the critical areas we have to address, not just for Zimbabwe, but for the region, is the issue of climate change, the impact on our agriculture. As you are aware, the bulk of our citizens are in agriculture. We are looking at how we develop drought-proof agriculture so that we don’t rely on rain-fed agriculture.

We need investments in irrigation infrastructure, both for the large scale and small to medium scale farmers. So these are some of the issues we will also look at China. I’ve always said, if you don’t have the infrastructure to support the irrigation infrastructure, to support your agriculture, your gambling is like gambling. We have to stop gambling with agriculture. We have to be serious and drought-proof our agriculture.

BM: In the government work report, Chinese Premier Li Qiang highlights China’s commitment to pursuing higher standard opening up and promoting mutual benefits for foreign companies and investors. Reflecting on this, how best can Zimbabwe tap into the Chinese market to enhance bilateral economic relations for mutual advantage?

AB: If you look at it, all we need are markets. Look at China. China has the numbers. Right now, the population is 1.4 billion. That’s a market for us to exploit. For us, we have to make sure that first of all we have deepened relations with china. Secondly, we have the products they want and the quality, and the competitiveness of our products in terms of what we can export to China. For us, we are seeing that big opportunity, especially on the agriculture side, because we can produce.

I’ve been looking at the issues relating to fruits, vegetables, the horticultural products. I think there’s a huge potential for us to also take advantage of the huge market here. The Chinese government is also encouraging to drive the economy through consumption. So we Zimbabwe can be part of that consumption drive in terms of supplying imports especially in agriculture and food where we see we still have a huge comparative advantage.

BM: When it comes to financial collaboration between Zimbabwe and China, could you summarise the key accomplishments to date and share your perspective on areas for potential improvement?

AB: Since I came here in 2005, we negotiated the first facility, the 200 million US dollar facility for agriculture sector with the China Export and Import Bank. And that facility benefited the agriculture sector with inputs, fertilizers, chemicals, and also the mechanization, such as tractors. Since then, we’ve had several facilities with the China Export and Import Bank, supporting the energy sector. They’ve been very big on the energy sector. They have also been big with the ICT and the ecosystem for the infrastructure. Also the Chinese private sector comes in with their own resources to find their projects in Zimbabwe.

We have also benefited from the grants coming from China. They’ve supported us quite a lot in terms of the post Cyclone Idai reconstruction. We also worked very well on the Covid -19 pandemic. As you might be aware, we source all our vaccines from here. And I think we were one of the first countries to go on a massive vaccination program, based on the supply of the vaccines from China. The one other potential area we are looking at is the collaboration in the airlines to say we need also to look at opportunities to start flying to China, so that we have that link and the logistics for traveling. And also I’ve talked about the railways. As you are aware, we need to resuscitate our national railway of Zimbabwe. We are currently discussing with our counterparts here. We are hoping that this can be concluded. Some package can be agreed this year, so that we can start the rehabilitation of an important core in the whole logistics.

We have also another big project which we hope the Chinese can come in. The Batoka Gorge hydro-power project, which is between us and Zambia. That’s a massive project. We’re looking at 2,000 megawatts of electricity. Of course, experts are talking of US$1.52 billion dollars. We are also hoping that we can work with our Chinese counterparts on this massive project, which the Chinese have the experience with the great gorges project in terms of hydro.

BM: The forum on China-Africa cooperation is to be held later this year in Beijing. In your opinion, what should Zimbabwe prioritise and bring to the table in terms of economic bilateral cooperation moving forward?

AB: I think there are issues both at country level and then globally. I think one global issue is the issue of the international financial architecture. I think we would like to work with our Chinese counterparts to say this is something we need to reform in the global international financial architecture, so that it’s a fair system and that benefits the South. I think we as Africa, we need to put one voice together in collaboration without China, which has got a big voice out there globally. And then the issue which we feel also should be come out loud is the issue of debt. And now about 16 countries are in potential of debt distress. And we’ve discussed the issue of the G20 common framework in terms of assisting countries in the distress. This process has been slow. So we are hoping that Africa, during the FOCAC Summit, will come up with proposals to how we reform this G20 common framework so that it’s fit for purpose. And the connectivity of Africa, and we make full use of the Belt and Road Initiative. Without connectivity, we cannot grow our economies. We need a robust strategy to make sure that Africa is connected.

Then there is also the issue of representation. Currently, Africa is going to get a third seat on the board of the executive directors of the IMF which is a good thing. But I think we need to go beyond. I hope that globally, the African continent and China can put together one voice out there.