By Rex Mphisa
ZIMBABWEAN President Emmerson Mnangagwa has said the war in the DRC is an undesirable threat to regional and continental growth agendas.
Mnangagwa said he is concerned about the scurity and humanitarian stuation in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo where fighting has been ongoing for years.
He was welcoming Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema and his entourage who are in Zimbabwe for the inaugural session of the Zimbabwe-Zambia Bi-National Commission.
“On broader regional issues, it is undesirable that inter and intra-state conflicts continue to threaten successful implementation of the regional and continental development agenda. We remain concerned over the security and humanitarian situation in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo,” said Mnangagwa.
“We are confident that ongoing efforts of the region, and the international community, will bear fruit. Cessation of violence, securing lasting peace and ensuring that the people of Eastern DRC can benefit and contribute to regional development, remain our desire and priority,” he said.
He said the people of Zambia and Zimbabwe are bound by a common history, culture, family relations and common aspirations for prosperous economies.
“Please feel at home for the duration of your stay in Zimbabwe. The people of Zimbabwe and Zambia are bound by one history, culture, family relations, and common aspirations for prosperous economies and a higher quality of life.nWe share a very long border, which was arbitrarily drawn by the former colonial power, separating families and communities.”
He said Hichilema visit created an opportunity to give impetus to ongoing efforts to scale up multi-pronged and mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries.
Leaders have an inevitable duty to ensure that leverage on each other’s comparative advantages and
natural resource endowments to leap-forward the development, modernisation and industrialisation of their respective countries.
“It is further opportune, Your Excellency and Dear Brother, that your visit comes against the backdrop of
SADC’s determination to accelerate industrialisation through value addition and beneficiation of our rich
natural resource endowments.
“The region’s collective resolve to address pertinent challenges such as infrastructure gaps, and climate
change induced shocks form a critical background to this visit. As we meet, therefore, we have a broader
responsibility, not only in respect of our two nations, but in the context of our regional as well as continental aspirations,” said Mnangagwa.
He commended officials of both countries for timeously concluding the Bi-National Commission Agreement, making the convention of the inaugural session possible.
Mnangagwa said he is confident he Session will see the two nations strengthen and deepen relations between themselves for mutual benefit.
“I am pleased to note that, since our Senior Officials held the Mid-Term Review in September here in Harare, consultations and engagements remain on-going among various Ministries and Departments towards implementing decisions agreed to, thus far, while new areas of cooperation are being explored.”
Evidence of work being done is the number of Agreements and Memoranda of Understanding which
are ready for signing during this Session which is commendable, he said.
He said it is important the deals are transferred to work to ensure the strategic partnership delivers more benefits to Zimbabweans and Zambians expectant of highly impactful results from the engagements.
“There is scope for greater cooperation to promote trade and mutual investments in transport, infrastructure, energy, mining and agriculture; among many others.I urge our Ministers and Senior Officials to be deliberate and results oriented in all exchanges, to bring life and meaning to the decisions of this Bi-National Commission,” said Mnangagwa.
He said cooperation in sectors such as energy and transport infrastructure remain critical, more so that good transport networks are enablers to trade, investment and development between our two countries as well as regional integration.
“I, therefore, commend the progress made in the conceptualisation of the Lion’s Den-Kafue
Railway Project. I call upon the responsible Ministries, Departments and Agencies to work tirelessly to move the project forward.”
“Let me also hasten to say that for development to happen in our two countries; peace, security and stability have to be assured. The Defence Security services of our two countries have always been in close consultations and cooperation, as illustrated by the convening of the Joint Permanent Commission on Defence and Security in March 2025. I encourage the security services to remain vigilant in the midst of the ever-changing and new security threats such as terrorism, drug trafficking, and cyber crimes, among others,” said Mnangagwa.
He told Hichilema of his Government implementation of programmes towards modernising, industrialising and growing Zimbabwe’s economy.
As a result of those deliberate policies and programmes in our agricultural sector, Zimbabwe has realised household food security and is now focussed on value addition and beneficiation of the unprecedented surpluses realised across all agro-sub sectors.
The Zimbabwean Government has taken bold measures towards countering the effects of climate change through water harvesting which remains critical to climate change mitigation and adaptation as well as complementing rain-fed agriculture production systems.
The full utilisation of dams and conveyancing around our water infrastructure is top priority, he said.
“At community level, we are drilling boreholes across our 35 000 villages and establishing village business units and nutritional gardens. We have also launched 6 agriculture production booster kits, which will see small holder farmers being supported by Government with irrigation equipment to cover one-hectare plots. There remains great scope between our two countries for cooperation in the agriculture sector.”
He said in mining immense potential lies in the growing demand for new minerals and challenged officials to pursue avenues of cooperation that will see Zimbabwe and Zambia harness their resource endowments to tap into the opportunities associated with the green energy revolution and entry into global value chains.
“The over-arching goal is that our rich natural resource endowments must benefit our two economies and primarily our people,” said Mnangagwa.
“As Zimbabwe and Zambia, we share Mosi-oa- Tunya, the Victoria Falls. Cooperation and complementarity in improving tourist products and services in both the City of Victoria Falls and Livingstone, must be strengthened. 7 Positive spill-offs from increased tourist arrivals must accrue to the communities, which are the immediate stewards of the Victoria Falls, over and above our respective national economies. Joint marketing of other tourist destinations within our two countries should be
promoted.”
Education and skills development remain critically
important to propel socio-economic aspirations of the two countries, he said.
“Cooperation between our two countries, and sharing of lessons in education, as well as vocational and technical training, should be prioritised. Our young people must be equipped to modernise and industrialise our countries through their own innovations, based on our unique heritage and natural resource endowments.”
Mnangagwa said Zimbabwe continues to draw notable benefits from the successful implementation of the Engagement and Re-engagement Policy.
” Allow me, therefore, to take this opportunity to express my profound gratitude to you, and our brothers and sisters of the Republic of Zambia, for contributing, in various ways, to the resounding success that characterised Zimbabwe’s hosting of the 44th SADC Summit and ancillary events,” he said.
“In concluding, I once again welcome you, Your Excellency, to this historic working visit. I challenge us all to approach our engagements with a sense of urgency as we re-double efforts towards deepening our mutually beneficial and strategic cooperation. I wish us all fruitful deliberations,” he said.