Ministry of Industry focuses on NDS1 implementation

THE MINISTRY of Industry and Commerce is expected to play a key role in implementing the National Development Strategy (NDS1) by boosting productivity, competitiveness and efficiency levels in both industrial and commercial sectors, and be a major source of decent jobs, a Cabinet minister has said.

The ministry is holding a two-day strategic planning workshop in Bulawayo and is expected to come up with solid strategies that will improve industrial and commercial sector performance.

The three-day strategic planning workshop which started on Wednesday ends tomorrow.

In her remarks read on her behalf by Industry and Commerce Deputy Minister Roy Bhila, Dr Sithembiso Nyoni said it was strategic for the ministry staff to appreciate the task of implementing NDS1.

She said having grasped the task, performance plans must therefore give life to the outcomes.

The minister said the workshop must strive to incisively consider aligning deliverables towards the realisation of the agreed outcomes.

Industry and Commerce Deputy Minister Roy Bhila

“In line with the NDS1, the ministry is spearheading the pillar on ‘Moving the Economy up the Value Chains and Structural Transformation.’ Key under this pillar is value addition and beneficiation of agriculture and mining products, where the thrust is to develop and strengthen already existing value chains,” said Dr Nyoni.

“Pursuant to the National Vision for the country to become a ‘Prosperous and Empowered Upper Middle-Income Society by 2030,’ the ministry is expected to boost productivity, competitiveness and efficiency levels in both industrial and commercial sectors, and be a major source of decent jobs.”

In this regard, it is important for the ministry to make concerted strides in supporting industry through effective policy interventions.

“If we are to make a telling difference, we cannot continue applying the same methods in solving old problems. This calls for a paradigm shift in addressing industry challenges,” she said.

The NDS1 is a five-year economic blue-print initiated by the Second Republic led by President Mnangagwa that seeks to drive transformation of the country towards the attainment of a national vision of a prosperous upper middle-income economy by 2030.

It succeeded the two-year Transitional Stabilisation Programme (TSP) implemented from October 2018 to December 2020 to set the economy on a recovery trajectory after years of stagnation.

The success of NDS1 (2021-2025) is expected to build momentum towards NDS2 (2026-2030), which will take Zimbabwe to the desired realisation of upper middle-income economy status by 2030.

Dr Nyoni stressed that the ministry’s strategic plans and annual performance plans must reflect the sustained industrial and commercial sectors development agenda based on the ministry’s mandate.

“Departmental Annual Performance Plans must be mutually reinforcing and effectively eliminate the silo mentality. The realisation of the country’s industrialisation programme must find practical expression in our plans and our work on the ground.

“Taken together, our plans should seek to deepen the domestic market by growing employment, increasing incomes and undertaking other measures to widen the market for Zimbabwean goods and services through a stronger focus on exports to the region and other rapidly growing economies.”

“It is essential that the public sector now shifts from reporting on activities and tasks, to reporting on results, outputs and outcomes. Our Key Performance Indicators are linked clearly to the aims of our industrial policies and strategies as well as our mandate, in order for us to produce the desired results,” she added. —-hronicle