Zim makes investment, trade inroads at Expo 2020 Dubai
ZIMBABWE is utilising every opportunity from its participation at the on-going Expo 2020 Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to secure critical investment leads and driving increased exports, the country’s exhibition commissioner general, Ambassador Mary Mubi, has said.
As part of the high-impact schedules at the six-month-long expo that began in October last year, Zimbabwe will host a “National Day” programme on 14 March in Dubai, which will mark the culmination of major events being lined up to drive the national economic interest.
Since the start of the expo the country’s pavilion has been a hive of activity as potential investors, buyers and visitors from across the world sought more information about destination Zimbabwe and the opportunities in offers, organisers have said.
So far, the thousands of visitors at the country’s pavilion have mainly expressed interest in business opportunities under agriculture, mining, tourism and services, art and craft, among others.
“We look forward to a tourism event at the beginning of March that we are busy planning for and we will also have a business forum, which is part and parcel of the National Day event,” said Amb Mubi in a latest update.
“The National Day event honours a country. It’s called an ‘honour day’ because each country is given a day on which the expo focuses on the country and ours is the 14th of March.
“With regards to the preparations for this day I am glad to say we have team working from home and also from here to try and put a good programme for the day.
“We expect a high-level delegation from home and during the three-day programme we will of course have a business forum, which is extremely important.”
As part of efforts to harness investment, Amb Mubi said they had a packed programme that includes engagement between the high-level Zimbabwean delegation and the diaspora community.
She said Zimbabweans in the diaspora were getting more and more organised with respect to how they can better engage with their country hence the expo organisers were convinced that a robust discussion on the way forward will be achieved in win-win framework.
Amb Mubi said this was critical in generating business for the country and the entire African region saying the diaspora community must be part and parcel of the journey towards transforming the economy towards an upper middle-income target under Vision 2030.
“So, we have an exciting National Day programme but it will span over a period of threedays and will also include high level meetings with investors and visiting certain strategic companies, which are of interest to Zimbabwe,” said Amb Mubi.
“So, yes, we believe preparations are well ahead and, in this regard, we will want to acknowledge the work being done by our team back at home with the support of the team here in Dubai.”
In preparing for the National Day, the commissioner said Zimbabwe already has the benefit of visiting other national events and the local term was now feeding the information to the team back at home to ensure the country’s programme offers best results.
“We want to try and bring the special flavor that Zimbabwe has to our National Day so that we can use it as the culmination of our participation at Expo-2020 Dubai,” she said.
“So, we are ready for the National Day and we look forward to the culmination of the events because over the last four months we have made a number of interactions and met business people and we believe that the national engagement will be the culmination of the work that has been done by the team here and also by visiting delegations and sectors to showcase various opportunities in our country.”
Amb Mubi said the country has managed to make significant impact despite the disruptive Covid-19 pandemic, which resulted in travel restrictions and the ban on travelers mainly from Southern Africa during the month of November, moving into December 2021.
The travel bans affected some of the calendar events at the Zimbabwe Pavilion as planned visits by ministries and sector associations to come and showcase their various opportunities could not materialise.
“People could not travel from Zimbabwe to come for the planned events. For instance, there was a tourism event that had to be cancelled because we couldn’t get the critical mass to come from Zimbabwe,” she said.
“Inspite of the travel ban, the UAE experienced a surge in tourism as more visitors came during the festive holiday. So, we had quite a large number of people coming to the UAE from Europe and some from the North including Zimbabweans in the diaspora, who visited the pavilion.
“Now travel ban has been lifted we are looking forward to implementing the various effects that include the trade and investment, health and agriculture conferences.”-eBusiness Weekly
