Pesident Emmerson Mnangagwa touched down in Shenzhen City, China on Thursday, ahead of a State Visit and attendance at the Ninth Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (Focac) Summit.
His Excellency is scheduled to tour a number of Provinces and hold business engagements with key players in several economic sectors, including Energy, Information Communication Technology and Agriculture. He will then hold bilateral talks with his counterpart, President of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping, during a State visit, before joining other Heads of State at the Focac Summit in Beijing.
Speaking to local media ahead of his departure, the President hailed Zim-China relations which have endured and concretised since the days of the liberation struggle. “Relations between the Zimbabwe and the People’s Republic of China are rooted in our historical past, in particular, our liberation struggle. For your own information, I trained in China in 1963 and 1964. That is where we began our political relations which have continued to deepen and concretise through to now”, he said.
Diplomatic relations between Zimbabwe and China have since been upgraded to strategic partnerships.
Trade between Zimbabwe and China has been steadily increasing since 2019, with Zimbabwe exporting US $1.7 billion worth of goods to China last year, the highest in the last five years. Major exports include tobacco, cotton, macadamia and minerals. During the same year, Zimbabwe made its first direct export of citrus fruits to China, oranges worth over US$469 000, indicating broadening trade opportunities between the two countries.
Focac is a global platform that was established in 2000 to promote mutually beneficial dialogue and collaboration between China and African countries. The Summits that are held every 3 years provide a platform to formulate pragmatic cooperation frameworks in which both parties emerge with a win. It is envisaged that through the Focac initiave, sustainable development in Africa will continue to be promoted.
The Ninth Focac Summit is being held under the theme; “Joining hands to advance modernisation and build a high-level China-Africa community with a shared future.”
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