Zimbabwe, Egypt step up cooperation
Vice President and Minister of Health and Child Care, Dr Constantino Chiwenga, will today meet Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli as Zimbabwe and Egypt seek to step up economic cooperation for the mutual benefit of their economies.
VP Chiwenga arrived here yesterday afternoon for the Africa Health ExCon at the invitation of the host Government. He is expected to take advantage of his trip to seek areas of economic cooperation with Egypt, one of the most advanced economies on the continent.
The Africa Health ExCon, which the VP is primarily here for, is a premier medical expo bringing together leading manufacturers of medical consumables and pharmaceuticals as well as specialists, those in medical businesses and government representatives under one roof, to brainstorm on how best to improve health services on the African continent.
As VP Chiwenga joins industry experts and government officials from other participating countries for the symposium, Zimbabwe hopes to continue its best international practice benchmarking in pursuance of its national health goals.
The Vice President will seek investments into the economy in line with President Mnangagwa’s ‘Zimbabwe is open for business’ mantra.
“As you are aware, this is now my second time to attend this Africa Health ExCon here in Cairo,” said VP Chiwenga.
“It has benefited already and it is going to benefit Zimbabwe quite a lot. As you are aware, we have already signed a memorandum of understandingon cooperation in the medical field. It’s not just cooperation in the medical field but we want to go further and exchange ideas and Egypt is quite far
away in terms of pharmaceutical developments than ourselves and we want to cooperate in that area.
“But besides medical issues, we want to look at other different areas of the relationship between Zimbabwe and Egypt. What is it we can do economically in the different fields. We will be discussing these in the side meetings.” On the economic front, VP Chiwenga and his team are looking
at engaging their Egyptian counterparts on aquaculture, construction as well as general investment.
Speaking after receiving VP Chiwenga, Egypt Minister of Health and Population Professor Khaled Abdel Ghaffar said Zimbabwe has a lot to share on its health sector experiences and knowledge.
“We are delighted to have him (VP Chiwenga) for the second time to attend the Health ExCon,” said Prof Ghaffar.
“Being the Minister of Health as well as the Vice President of Zimbabwe, he is quite aware of the health issues in Africa in general. So, sharing experiences with Egypt and for the sake of the continent is very important.
“I am also conveying a greeting message from the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, His Excellency Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who will be delighted to see him during the official opening of the conference.
“He (VP Chiwenga) will have a very important meeting with the Prime Minister of Egypt to discuss more about the different ways of cooperation between Egypt and Zimbabwe in different sectors and certainly the health sector.”
Prof Ghaffar said during the three days of the conference, they will have discussions on manufacturing, partnerships in medicine, medical equipment as well the challenges faced on the African continent.
He said they would discuss how the continent can depend on its resources to improve the lives of people.herald
