Zimbabwe to further liberalize economy to boost foreign trade

Source: Xinhua| 2020-01-29 20:20:03|Editor: xuxin
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HARARE, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwe will continue liberalizing its markets in a bid to create a favorable environment of doing business, a senior government official said on Wednesday.

In a speech read on his behalf by his deputy, Zimbabwe's Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Sibusiso Moyo said Zimbabwe has already started carrying out Ease of Doing Business reforms which are aimed at enhancing the competitiveness of its exports.

"Agreements on the negotiations will boost bilateral trade and enhance investment flows thereby contributing to the creation of jobs while promoting their sustainable development," he said.

Moyo was speaking at the launch of the Zimbabwe Economic Partnership Agreement Support Project (ZEPA) held in Harare.

The European Union (EU) made a financial contribution of 10 million euros to ZEPA, which will go towards technical assistance for the project including procurement of supplies, provision of grants to Zimbabwe's business support organizations and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.

The objective of ZEPA, running from 2017 to 2022, is to integrate Zimbabwe into regional and international trading system through improving the competitiveness of export capacity of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), reducing trading costs and expedite movement and clearance of goods.

Moyo said ZEPA comes at a time when Zimbabwe is already implementing a new economic order that is expected to restore confidence in the economy.

"The ZEPA project is helping government to strengthen the competiveness of SMEs and their capacity to produce and export for example in the areas of horticulture," he said.

Speaking at the same event, Head of EU Delegation in Zimbabwe Timo Olkkonen assured EU's support to Zimbabwe in its efforts to reform trade regulatory and institutional frameworks in order to incentivize production and trade.

He said efforts made by the Zimbabwean side have already seen an increase of exports to the EU.

"A notable increase in the volume of agricultural products exports from Zimbabwe to the EU has been recorded, but there is still a huge potential for product increase as trade between Zimbabwe and EU forms about 5 percent Zimbabwe's total trade currently," he said.

The EU has recently made strides in improving its relations with Zimbabwe. In 2018, the EU was Zimbabwe's fifth largest trading partner, with trade volumes between the two sides reaching 243 million euros.

In 2009, Zimbabwe signed the interim economic partnership agreement (IEPA) with the EU, together with Madagascar, Mauritius and Seychelles.

In order to support the implementation of the IEPA, Zimbabwe signed the ZEPA financing agreement with the EU in 2017, with the latter making a financial contribution of 10 million euros to support the project.

The IEPA Agreement provides Zimbabwe with duty and quota free market access to the EU, while foreseeing gradual liberalization of 80 percent on EU imports.

The agreement covers areas of trade, fisheries and economic development cooperation.

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