Zim-Italy trade potential remains unexploited

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Trade potential between Zimbabwe and Italy remains largely untapped and the two countries are working on strategies to strengthen economic co-operation, an official said on Friday.

HARARE – Trade potential between Zimbabwe and Italy remains largely untapped and the two countries are working on strategies to strengthen economic co-operation, an official said on Friday.

Italian ambassador to Zimbabwe, Enrico De Agostini said his country was ready to assist Zimbabwe ban agro-based economy — to boost its productivity.

Agostini could not immediately provide trade volume figures.

“There is trade between Zimbabwe and Italy but the potential for trade remains largely untapped. Italy has a strong tradition in agriculture and agriculture machinery and so we can help Zimbabwe in many ways,” he said at the launch of Zimbabwe’s Expo Milano 2015 campaign.

The Italian city of Milan next year hosts the six-month long world expo, which rotates among countries every five years, from May 1 to October 31.

Zimbabwe is one of the 34 African countries that will take part at the expo, which was last hosted in Beijing, China in 2010.

Agostini said Zimbabwe could take a cue from the European country’s small and medium enterprises (SMEs)-backed economy.

“The development model used in Italy can be replicated here. SMEs can be a crucial tool in the empowerment of people,” he said.

Industry and Commerce deputy minister Chiratidzo Mabuwa said Zimbabwe was keen to copy the way Italy incubated its SMEs until they graduated into large corporations.

“If we bring Italy’s SMEs here, they qualify to be large enterprises,” she said.

“We want our SMEs to graduate into big companies which are listed on the stock exchange.”

Zimbabwe’s economy is dominated by SMEs and the informal sector which employ the bulk of the country’s workforce as the formal economy continues to shrink due to various challenges.

Mabuwa said Zimbabwe was keen to learn from Italy’s leather as well as agro-processing sectors.

– The Source