THE European Union and the Industry and Commerce ministry was set on Friday to launch a ₣3 million Trade and Private Sector Development fund meant to help the private sector and some small to medium companies to recapitalise and access foreign markets.
EU ambassador to Zimbabwe Aldo Dell’Ariccia told delegates attending a Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce Trade and Investment symposium in Bulawayo that the fund will help companies to produce goods that meet the standards of the European bloc.
“Tomorrow (Friday), together with minister (Mike) Bimha we will launch the fund in Harare. It will help companies access technical assistance to market information and help them work on standards to enhance trade with the EU,” he said.
Dell’Ariccia said details of the fund would be announced at the launch, but pointed out that EU countries were keen on expanding economic relations, but policy discontent on the part of Zimbabwe was affecting investors.
“There is lack of clarity of polices. There must be transparency and accountability on these polices. You tend to hear contradictory sentiments from one official to another especially on indigenisation,” Dell’Ariccia said.
He said Zimbabwe needed to turn its blue print ZimAsset into a strategic document which will help investors come in.
“The document is silent on where the funding for all those projects will come from. There is need to clarify some issues if you want to attract investors.”
The time span given by Government for the implementation of ZimAsset is also short as there was critical need of foreign direct investment, he said. The government needs around $27 billion to implement ZimAsset, a huge amount by local standards considering that its budget has $4 billion annually in the last three years.
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– The Source
