The ManicaPost
Wallace Ruzvidzo
Zimpapers Elections Desk
A WISE man once said: “When spiders unite, they can tie down a lion.”
The Second Republic under President Mnangagwa has achieved tremendous milestones through its diplomatic offensive; engagement and re-engagement, guided by the Head of State’s mantra “Zimbabwe is a friend to all and enemy to none”.
Since Zimbabwe attained independence and even before, the country’s Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) and development leaned more on the Western world, hence when sanctions were imposed on Zimbabwe at the turn of the millennium, they crippled the country’s economy and all prospects of growth dwindled.
However, since the coming in of the New Dispensation, the country started to look to all nations and sought to engage and re-engage, something that has led to the country’s current development trajectory and the subsequent economic growth.
Zimbabwe has been on a mission to develop and redevelop, establish and re-establish relations with all foreign nations, as the country continues to leave no stone unturned in its development agenda.
The engagement and re-engagement agenda has resulted in thawed relations with formerly hostile nations, leading to improved relations with financial institutions as well as with other countries and international bodies.
Countries like China, Russia, Belarus and Algeria, among others, continue to aid Zimbabwe’s realisation of its potential and this would not have been made possible had it not been for President Mnangagwa’s deliberate action of restoring and growing the country’s diplomatic footprint.
President Mnangagwa is on record saying developing countries like Zimbabwe can accelerate their growth through increased cooperation with willing partners such as China.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa interacts with Russian President Vladimir Putin during one of their engagements
“It is in that regard that we in Zimbabwe appreciate and strongly support President Xi Jinping’s initiative, which aims at addressing the global development inequalities.
“We particularly value the fact that this initiative will put emphasis on global development partnerships that advance solidarity, equality, balanced and inclusive development.
“This is in line with my own Government’s thrust on development, which aims at leaving no one and no place behind as we race to attain our goal of becoming an upper-middle income country by 2030,” said the Head of State last month.
Since the advent of the Second Republic, Harare’s cooperation with Beijing in various fields that include energy, agriculture, health, environment, infrastructure development and mining has continued to grow, and this has seen immense development in Zimbabwe.
Russia is another country that has stood with Zimbabwe since the days of the liberation struggle and without its assistance, Zimbabwe and many other African states could not have escaped from the shackles of colonialism.
Relations between Harare and Moscow have grown greatly since the coming in of the New Dispensation, so much that President Mnangagwa held bilateral discussions with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on the sideline of the Russia-Africa Summit recently, with the former expressing Zimbabwe’s keen interest in joining the BRICS New Development Bank.
Zimbabwe’s agricultural sector has been receiving support from Belarus due to President Mnangagwa’s re-engagement drive
This comes as many nations such as Russia, China and India have been dumping the use of the US dollar as they are fed up with the US’ unilateralism and coercive approach to international relations.
Consequently, a new inclusive democratic and world order beckons, and President Mnangagwa and his administration are well alive to this reality.
“The history of Africa’s development cannot be accurate and complete without mentioning the significant contribution of the Russian Federation dating back to the USSR. The Russian people stood with Africa, providing moral, technical and material support to many of our countries as we fought to liberate ourselves from the oppressive colonial rule. This support and solidarity continued after independence of African countries,” said the President.
In turn, President Putin has expressed his confidence in the continued growth of relations and cooperation between Harare and Moscow.
“Russia and Zimbabwe speak on unified or close positions on most issues of the international agenda, your country has traditionally been supporting Russia initiatives within the UN, Zimbabwe votes for our nomination and supports us, we highly appreciate that.
“We know that your country is going to hold yet another general election, we are confident that this election is going to happen in full compliance to the national and international standards. We would like to wish you and the party you lead every success,” said President Putin.
The historic visit to Zimbabwe by Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko earlier this year was also another remarkable feat for the country and further evidence that the Second Republic’s diplomatic offensive is no small talk.
The rapid growth of trade between Zimbabwe and Belarus, enabled by the blossoming of relations between the two countries in the last five years, has seen huge rewards for Harare’s agriculture sector as well as growth of industries.
“I would like to emphasise that by coming to Africa, we bring peace, science and technology. We are not using colonial style; we are not here to do that. We are bringing peace, we are here to train the specialists, to help you achieve the progress of your economies.
“We plan to expand our ties with Africa because the world cannot develop without Africa and the future belongs to Africa,” said President Lukashenko during his State visit.
Australia-listed oil and gas exploration firm, Invictus Energy, is seized with an oil and gas exploration project in Muzarabani. The discovery of oil and gas in Mukuyu 1 might lead to the commercial drilling of the highly valuable commodities and ultimately lead to economic growth
The Second Republic’s re-engagement agenda also scored another milestone last week as Algeria also stepped in through the signing of a Memorandum Of Understanding (MoU) in hydrocarbons.
This is a shot in the arm for the country’s natural gas and oil exploration activities following the confirmation of large reserves in the north-eastern part of the country.
Algeria has the tenth-largest proven reserves of natural gas in the world and is the sixth largest gas exporter.
It also has the third largest reserves of shale gas.
It also ranks sixteenth in proven oil reserves, according to a Data Privacy Framework (DPF).
This cooperation will boost the country’s economic growth.
Other notable and encouraging milestones include the embracing of Zimbabweans in high level positions such as the Pan African Parliament Presidency and Pan African Postal Union Secretary General, among others.
Other benefits that have been reaped include Foreign Direct Investments from companies such as the DP World and Mulk Holdings International FCZ, just to name a few.
President Mnangagwa’s diplomatic drive is not only charming the world and increasing the country’s diplomatic footprint but also undeniably developing Zimbabwe.
