By Staff Reporter
PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa has commended the outgoing EU Ambassador to Zimbabwe for working flat out to improve relations between the two regions.
The Western diplomat , Jobst von Kirchmann is set to leave the Southern Africa nation after completion of his assigned duties.
President Mnangagwa has, since coming to power, strengthened diplomatic ties with all world nations, with an engagement and re-engagement thrust that has seen Western countries warming up to Zimbabwe.
Speaking to the media after their closed-door meeting, where he emerged with the President in pearls of laughter, the
EU diplomat said it was evident that relations between Harare and Brussels had improved exponentially in recent years.
“I think the laughing is probably the expression of normalisation of relations and I think during my three years, we reached a stage where the relation between the European Union and Zimbabwe has normalised.
“We are focusing as partners on what we can do together. Typical areas are trade and investment and when I look back, I must say that was quite successful . . . so we managed to build bridges.
“And I often say as an ambassador, it is important when you go in a country to build bridges, you have to find them on both sides because a bridge is something where people meet on and they come from both sides and that requires that you look at your partner country, at your host country, in a way as a partner,” he said.
Writing on micro-blogging platform X after the meeting, President Mnangagwa said: “I bid farewell to EU Ambassador Jobst von Kirchmann, who noted that Zimbabwe-EU relations have normalised over the past three years. Trade rose by 30 percent, investment by 90 percent. We thank him for strengthening ties and wish him well.”
