Mr Speaker, there is a great deal more I could say on the progress we are making with regard to trade and investment flows and with regard to our policy of Engagement and Re-Engagement more broadly.
I thank you for the opportunity you have afforded me to share insight and information with Hon. Members and I undertake, Sir, with your permission, to repeat this exercise on a regular basis so as to keep the House informed on the status of Engagement and Re-Engagement and on the significant progress we are making;
- To rebrand Zimbabwe as a reliable and trusted trade and investment partner;
- To strengthen long-standing relationships with our many all-weather friends;
- To establish new relationships with those with whom we have hitherto had little if any engagement; and
- To rebuild relationships which, for whatever reason, soured and fell apart over the past twenty years or so.
Mr. Speaker, with regard to Re-Affirmation and Engagement, I believe it is clear from the presentation I have made and the statistics I have shared with you that our traditional, long-standing partners remain predominant in terms of both trade and investment flows. We will continue to further strengthen and deepen those ties.
With regard to Re-Engagement, as I said at the beginning of my statement, the rebuilding of broken or interrupted relationships was never envisaged as an event. It is a process. An immediate breakthrough in terms of the US, the UK and the EU more broadly, even after the transition of November 2017, was never seen as likely, but such a breakthrough must remain a key objective of our overall Re-Engagement strategy.
Several setbacks notwithstanding, progress has been made. Whereas, prior to the New Dispensation, there was little engagement beyond two-way megaphone diplomacy between Harare and most western capitals, there is currently ongoing, constructive dialogue with all of them, the US, the UK and Brussels included.
We continue to differ on a number of issues, most specifically on the continued imposition of sanctions, but we are talking to one another rather than at one another. Generally speaking, the atmosphere is positive and the prospects for further progress and improvement remain promising. I Thank You.
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