Firmly within the family of nations

Firmly within the family of nations

 

Zimbabwe reaps dividends from reengagement leap of faith

 

Nevanji Munyaradzi Chiondegwa

 

 

 

The New Dispensation’s new foreign policy thrust of engagement and re-engagement thrust anchored on ‘friend to all and enemy to none’ and ‘Zimbabwe is open for Business’ has begun to yield results, President Emmerson Mnangagwa, the, the main proponent of then policy drive has said.

 

The Head of State and Government said this while paying tribute to foreign diplomats accredited to Zimbabwe during his 2023 New Year’s engagement with members of the diplomatic corps.

 

The President paid homage to the diplomats for helping Zimbabwe re-integrate itself into the totality of community of nations, which had seen the partial lifting of sanctions by the European Union (EU), the invitation of Zimbabwe to the US-Africa Summit, and the availing of funding by the European Development Fund.

 

Zimbabwe has also been for the first time been invited to attend the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organization Ministerial Alliance for Digital Nations currently underway in the United Kingdom.

 

The ‘Zimbabwe is Open for Business’ mantra and the driving motto, ‘Zimbabwe is a friend to all and an enemy of none’ spearheaded by the President is bearing fruit given the progress so far witnessed.

 

The re-engagement drive has been buoyed by the resounding call for the removal of illegal sanctions by both regional and international bodies with SADC leading by having an Anti-Sanctions Day marked on 25 October.

 

Calls for the lifting of sanctions have also been made by the African Union and the United Nations an indicator of the sterling work being done by President Mnangagwa and the New Dispensation.

 

Despite these gains, the President continues to campaign for the complete and unconditional removal of the remaining illegal sanctions. Zimbabwe has long argued that the sanctions, which the US, Great Britain and EU claim are targeted, are not in fact targeted but on the country.

 

The lifting of the illegal sanctions would go a long way in removing the noose strangling Zimbabwe’s economic fortunes, and open the floodgates for unfettered trade and lines of credit.

 

However, despite its positive attitude towards engagement and re-engagement, Zimbabwe will not brook any foreign interference in its domestic affairs, the same way it respects other nations’ sovereign status as enshrined in the UN Charter. President Mnangagwa reiterated that Zimbabwe only wishes to be treated as a sovereign State, equal in standing in the global arena.