By Staff Reporter
PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa’s visit to Japan has ended on a high note with the World Food Program expressing interest to make Zimbabwe the regional procurement hub.
Establishing a hub in Zimbabwe would mean the WFP uses the country as a central point to store large quantities of food, manage logistics and coordinate transportation for distribution to neighbouring countries facing food insecurity.
In an interview following the conclusion of President Mnangagwa ’s visit to Japan yesterday, where he joined other Heads of State at the 9th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD), Prof Murwira said the country’s agriculture transformation under the Second Republic has been recognised at an international level.
He said the President used this year’s 9th TICAD session to promote the brand Zimbabwe and engage with key potential partners through bilateral engagements.
This included meeting Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, WFP Director Ms Cindy McCain and UNDP Acting Administrator Mr Haoliang Xu.
“On the sidelines of this TICAD conference, His Excellency, President Mnangagwa, was also able to meet the Prime Minister of Japan to discuss bilateral issues to do with cooperation in the economic, tourism and mining areas. And how can we work together towards these common goals for mutual interests, for the interests of Zimbabwe, for the interests of Japan.
“When we met the UN system, we met the World Food Programme (WFP) first. His Excellency met Ms McCain of the World Food Programme. And the aim of this meeting was to talk about food security. But most of all, the WFP is interested in making Zimbabwe the procurement area for food, which means Zimbabwe can produce food, store that food, and then the WFP can distribute it to the region using Zimbabwe as a procurement zone for this food.
“So, it was a very critical strategic meeting. It recognises Zimbabwe’s agricultural capabilities after the Land Reform Programme and what His Excellency has done in making sure that agricultural mechanisation, organising the agricultural forces in the country, has been done in such a way that it is now being recognised as a critical output of the efforts of His Excellency in the Second Republic.
“So, the meeting with Ms McCain was very important because it really showed that the UN system recognises the steps that Zimbabwe has taken to move from a food producer for itself to a food distributor into the region because we have the production capacity, but we also have got the logistics capacity of storage and distribution,” he said.
The President also met with the UNDP acting director, Mr Xu.
“In this meeting, the UNDP was talking about supporting Zimbabwe’s devolution and the issue of the national spatial data infrastructure for effective planning, national planning. Zimbabwe is already embarking, through its National Geospatial and Space Agency, on the implementation of a common map for the country, which is what we call geospatial infrastructure, national spatial data infrastructure, which is used for planning. The UNDP is willing to work with Zimbabwe in enhancing our national spatial data infrastructure for the purposes of effective planning and devolution.
“So, the UNDP is acknowledging the steps that Zimbabwe has taken to make sure that it develops for itself. But once a country develops for itself, it’s already of benefit to its neighbours near and far, and this is very important,” he said.
Further, the President also discussed with the UNDP Chief the country’s innovation ecosystem, touching on start-ups that the UN agency is promoting on the African continent.
“As you know, His Excellency the President, through his science and technology ecosystem, was able to develop an innovation ecosystem with innovation hubs across all State universities and colleges to make sure that we produce industry from our minds, from our young minds, from our institutions, so that we produce a sustainable and stable economy. And when the UNDP came with this issue of start-ups and the innovation ecosystem, it resonated very well with a strategy that His Excellency already adopted about eight years ago in terms of innovation and as a catalyst for industrialisation,” said Prof Murwira.
The meetings, added Prof Murwira, were critical in furthering Zimbabwe’s national objective of creating a just, free society, where people are prosperous with happy and fulfilling lives.
“So we are on the move, and this is the practical implementation of Zimbabwe’s foreign policy, because Zimbabwe’s foreign policy is based on pillars that are meant to work in an environment in which Zimbabwean people can thrive, but they can also be of benefit to the rest of the world. It’s a world where people live together, not of each other, together with each other for each other,” he said.
For Zimbabwe, there will be a lot of sign-offs with Japan and the rest of the world eying rare earth minerals replete on the African continent.
“The petalite industry is huge in Japan, but we are also interested in Japan with its technological prowess, in the skills area you would know that our first satellite was developed in collaboration with Japan, ZIMSAT-1, and that tells you that Japan is a willing partner to work with Zimbabwe and you would know that the Marongora Road project was also undertaken by Japan. And NERICA rice’s experimental project, as well as the rollout of that variety of rice in Zimbabwe, in conjunction with the efforts of the First Lady of the Republic of Zimbabwe, Dr Auxilia Mnangagwa, and the Ministry of Agriculture, we see that there is a lot of movement between ourselves and Japan. Japan and Zimbabwe have always been pursuing a mutually respectful relationship that is bound by values of peace and by values of economic development and exchange of knowledge,” he said.
While some developed countries collaborated to impose illegal sanctions on Zimbabwe, Japan continued to cordially relate with Zimbabwe, said the minister.
“So, it is Zimbabwe’s point of view that relating with Japan is very important, and His Excellency fulfilled that activity by making sure that it happens.”
The President yesterday visited the Japanese Emperor Naruhito, further cementing ties between the two countries. During the visit, he also persuaded Japan to back Zimbabwe for a non-permanent seat at the UN Security Council.
“It’s very clear that His Excellency is on the move, trying to promote Zimbabwe within the comity of nations, and making sure that we are not just there, we are there for productivity, and for the good and progress of our nation and its people. It’s very important because, as you can see, Zimbabwe is bidding to be a member of the UN Security Council as a non-permanent member from 2027 to 2028, and the elections are going to be next year, in June 2026. And the gathering, like TICAD, is very important for us to advance our interests within the multilateral environment through detailing our contribution to that international environment.
“We believe that Zimbabwe is one of the countries that qualify for this seat because of the environment which we are creating, that of peace and tranquillity. You know our activities in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, trying to bring peace there, being chair of SADC, and also mostly because Zimbabwe is a tranquil country with a non-adversarial foreign policy, with a non-judgmental foreign policy, which are attributes that we think are very important for the Security Council membership. Meeting the Emperor and the Japanese Prime Minister, who promised support for Zimbabwe, was very important. And you know, Japan also lives in an international world. They have got their friends. So, it means by talking to them, we have talked to a node which is connecting to many other nodes in the international world,” he said.
This year’s triennial TICAD, which was based on co-creation and cooperation, was anchored on the critical pillars of peace and stability, economic development and social services provision.
Credit- Zimpapers
