Zim urged to engage China on $36bn investment fund

Zim urged to engage China on $36bn investment fund
Published: 29 October 2013
Zimbabwe should engage China which has about $36 billion for investment in Special Economic Zones as a way of attracting foreign investment in order to resuscitate critical sectors of the economy such as energy and manufacturing, a senior Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa official said.

Presenting a paper on value chains and their roles in economic development at this year's edition of the Zimtrade Exporters Conference in Harare last week, Comesa secretary general Dr Sindiso Ngwenya said the country could court successful economies such as China for investment.

Mr Ngwenya added that the first step would be to establish special economic zones in the country which are areas that are designed to export goods and provide employment while they are exempted from certain tax and quota laws meant to make goods manufactured in those zones fetch competitive global prices.

"In China, Shenzhen is a success story of a special economic zone which was established in the 80s and by 1994 the city was accounting for 35 percent of total Chinese exports, Zimbabwe should therefore go the SEZ route in order to revive critical sectors.

"Zimbabwe therefore needs to engage China to get that investment which can be channeled towards establishment and rehabilitation of power plants and revival of the manufacturing sector," he said.

Zimbabwe's export earnings have continued to go down is because most of the exports are not value added products hence the need for the country to firmly participate in the global value chain to achieve beneficiation before exporting.
- herald
Tags: China, Comesa,

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