Thus Zimbabwe is lowly ranked in terms of innovation in comparison to its regional counterparts.
At the same time, South Africa, Mozambique and Zambia also scored well in terms of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows according to the 2015 UNCTAD World Investment report, amassing $5.7 billion, $4.9 billion and close to $2.5 billion respectively while Zimbabwe only managed a paltry $545 million, Mpofu said.
The Doing Business Index ranks Botswana (72), South Africa (73), Zambia (97) Swaziland (105) and Mozambique (133) while Zimbabwe is ranked 155 out of 189 countries.
“It is obvious that Zimbabwe is not doing well in comparison with most of its regional counterparts in many of the indicators that investors use to gauge the country’s suitability for investment,” he said.
Speaking at the same occasion, Vice-President Emerson Mnangagwa said there was need for the country to invest in new technology as well as in research and innovation to improve productivity and quality of goods and services.
“This will in turn undoubtedly endear Zimbabweans to locally produced goods and make them competitive on the international market. To this end, government remains committed to assisting industry and business in their efforts to re-tool in order to ensure business viability,” he said.
The fair running under the theme Innovate, Integrate and Industrialise, will be officially opened by Togolese President, Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé.- The Source
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