‘Welding Federation Conference an eye opener’
THE Welding Federation Conference that is underway in Egypt is an eye-opener for Zimbabwe as the country possesses huge economic potential in the iron and steel value-chain industry, Zimbabwe Institute of Foundries (ZIF) chief operations officer, Mr Dosman Mangisi, said yesterday.
“This conference here in Egypt is an eye-opener to Zimbabwe. I’m glad that we are representing the country here, and back home we’re driving the most powerful institution, which has been recognised at this level,” said Mr Mangisi who is part of the key delegates to the high-level event.
“Africa should drive value-addition and beneficiation of minerals because we’re the end users of the materials, which have been benefited. There is a strong need to champion value addition and beneficiation so that we have all raw materials available in Africa.”
Mr Mangisi said the deliberations at the conference also touched more on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), and how the continent could boost its economy through strengthening intra-regional trade in value-added iron and steel products as opposed to exporting these to other regions in raw form.
AfCFTA
“We have started doing this as Zimbabwe with support from the Government but we are doing it slowly, and we need to do more to maximise that. Local industrial players should also come out of their comfort zones and unite to take this challenge so that we move as a team. Germany and Italy country representatives have pointed out that Zimbabwe is one of the African giants in terms of strategic minerals,” he said
Mr Mangisi, who also chaired a panel discussion in which Egyptian Professor Mohammad Hassan from the Central Metallurgical Research and Development Institute highlighted the need for African governments to support the primary stages of value addition and beneficiation of metals by developing sustainable energy supply systems.
He suggested that the region could leverage lead countries that have comparative advantages in the sector such as South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe, which he said was an awakening giant.
During discussions, global industrialists who included the president of the International Institute of Welding, Professor Thomas Boellinghaus, stressed the need for African metal industry players to prioritise regional production of the raw materials in the continent so as to ease the cost of doing business and product competitiveness.
Prof Boellinghaus said Africa has all metals needed in the production of high-value manufactured goods and needs to capitalise on value addition and beneficiation.
Welding Federation president, Mr John Tarboton, from South Africa highlighted challenges haunting the continent in the value addition and beneficiation of metals such as costs of borrowing, poor technology absorption, power cuts, policy gaps, and complications such as Covid-19, the Russia and Ukraine conflict, which have disrupted global value chains.-chronicle.cl.zw
