Jakarta lays groundwork for investments

Indonesia has stepped up its interest in investing in Zimbabwe with the southeast Asian
country yesterday dispatching its Coordinating Minister for Maritime and Investment
Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan to lay the groundwork for investment.

Minister Pandjaitan first met President Mnangagwa yesterday morning after which he
met a Government delegation led by Acting President Dr Constantino Chiwenga.

The meetings centred on Indonesia’s interest in doing business in Zimbabwe which
comes on the back of an investment charm offensive initiated by President Mnangagwa
under which Zimbabwe is open for business strategy.

The Asian economic giant first showed interest in investing locally when Acting
President Chiwenga last year attended the Sector Minister’s Meeting on Sanitation and
Water for All in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Indonesia is a rising economic power now classified as a newly industrialised nation. It is
the largest economy in southeast Asia and the 17th largest in world.

On the sidelines of the Jakarta meeting, Dr Chiwenga met Indonesian authorities which
included the country’s Vice President Ma’ruf Amin, on whom he impressed that
Zimbabwe was a safe destination for international capital with huge potential.

“We have the delegation from the Republic of Indonesia led by the Coordinating Minister
for Maritime and Investment Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan and also here they are
accompanied by the Ambassador of Indonesia to Zimbabwe Dewa Sastrawan,” said the
Acting President.

“They have come to strengthen the cooperation between our two countries, in a number
of areas from agriculture, health, tourism, mining and our general relationship which we
have developed over a number of years.

“That is why the Minister has come now to concretise on the areas which we have
discussed. I was in Indonesia in May last year and we discussed a number of areas and we
agreed on a number of areas.

“For instance, in the health area we are looking at our pharmaceutical companies to
jointly work together and be able to produce medicines together, in Zimbabwe for the
benefit of Zimbabweans,” said Acting President Chiwenga.

Minister Pandjaitan emphasised that they are looking at starting implementation of the
agreed terms as early as next month.

“I met this morning President (Mnangagwa) and this is a follow-up on the meeting in
the morning, to go down to the concrete things so we agreed to form a taskforce.

“I think the Ambassador from the Zimbabwe side and my deputy will set up a meeting in
Jakarta on the 10th of February. We would like to move very quickly on these issues,” said
Minister Pandjaitan.

During Dr Chiwenga’s visit to Indonesia, the two countries agreed to collaborate in
health, transport, agriculture and infrastructure development.

A Memoranda of Understanding covering these areas has since been prepared and shared
with the Indonesian Embassy in Harare.

Indonesian company Bio Farma and NatPharm have shared a draft Memorandum of
Understanding which is expected to be signed next month, and Minister Pandjaitan’s
visit to Zimbabwe is expected to expedite the process of implementation.

Private sector companies have also been interacting and doing business together, and the
engagements are expected to deepen collaborations and improve trade between the two
countries.-The Herald