Zim seeks to tap into Chinese market

30 Oct, 2018 - 10:10 0 Views
Zim seeks to tap into Chinese market President Mnangagwa and his Chinese counterpart President Xi Jinping (Picture by Xinhua/Rao Aimin)

eBusiness Weekly

HARARE – Zimbabwe is exploring ways of  enabling locally produced goods to be exported to China, a cabinet  Minister said on Monday.

Industry and Commerce Minister Mangaliso Ndhlovu told the media on the  sidelines of a signing ceremony of a Memorandum of Understanding between  his Ministry and the China State Administration for Market Regulation  that local companies would use the Shanghai Expo next week to showcase  Zimbabwean products.

“We are trying to promote our businesses to also do business in China. 

Currently we are not exporting to China. Our relationship is  predominantly one way. We hope to use the fair in Shanghai to take some  of the exhibits from our own people to the Chinese market,” he said.

Ndhlovu said 15 local companies would be exhibiting products at the  Shanghai festival next week.

“We have not tested the Chinese market enough and we are also  encouraged by the remarks of the President of China Xi Jinping in the  last Forum for China Africa Cooperation meeting where he was encouraging  African countries to consider the Chinese market as a viable market.

“We hope this tour will give us more insights in terms of how best to  penetrate that market and also appreciate the taste and quality  standards that the Chinese are looking forward to if we want to tap that  market,” he said.

Economic co-operation between China and Zimbabwe has been growing since  independence in 1980 with trade volumes reaching $1.24 billion in 2014.

Zimbabwe, which has close ties with China dating back to the days of  the liberation struggle when the Asian country provided military  training and logistical support to freedom fighters, has over the years  been seeking Beijing’s financial assistance to stabilize and grow its  economy which has been battered by more than ten years of sanctions that  Western countries imposed as punishment for implementing agrarian  reforms.

Early this year, President Emmerson Mnangagwa visited China where he  clinched deals to fund infrastructure development and rehabilitation. – New Ziana

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