Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa yesterday said Zimbabwe was too small to pursue a policy of confrontation. It was therefore looking for new friendships and new opportunities while consolidating old ones. “Zimbabwe is looking for new friendships, new opportunities while consolidating old ones. We are looking for mutually beneficial economic relationships, not confrontation. We are too small a country to pursue a policy of confrontation,” Chinamasa said at a two-day conference on the democratisation process and re-engagement with the international community. But the Minister, desperate for cash to restore liquidity in the country, seemed to be contradicting himself, if he was properly quoted by The Herald. In one instance he said: “Zimbabwe is open for foreign direct investment from all nations of the world, whether these be in the North, South, East or West. The business partnerships we forge must be without preconditions.” But he is also reported as saying: “Government’s efforts and commitments towards re-engagement need to be reciprocated by the same efforts from the global community, by honestly re-engaging with Zimbabwe. The removal of sanctions, as the government has always maintained, is an important pre-condition to Zimbabwe’s re-engagement with the global community.” Zimbabwe says it has lost more than US$40 billion because of sanctions.
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