Jakarta, Indonesia — ZIMBABWE'S Independence celebrations hosted by the Embassy here attracted a full house on Tuesday with Indonesian business and government officials in attendance.

Officials from government departments, the tourism sector, industry and commerce, the media were well represented at the reception. Some outlets even sent congratulatory messages displayed at the celebrations venue. Addressing guests, Zimbabwe's Ambassador to Indonesia Ms Alice Mageza said Zimbabwe had embarked on an economic turnaround programme aimed at addressing the socio-economic challenges the country had been experiencing over the last few years. The turnaround programme was underpinned by the land reform programme, Ms Mageza said.

Zimbabwe's tourism marketing delegation led by Environment and Tourism Minister Francis Nhema also attended the celebrations. Ms Mageza said regrettably, there were a lot of misconceptions and misrepresentations about the land reform programme. However, she said the turnaround programme was progressing well despite the formidable challenges Zimbabwe was currently facing. "As a nation we remain focused on the challenges we face and we believe we will overcome them. "The "Spirit of Bandug" and the birth of the Non Aligned Movement were major developments in the pre-colonial and post-colonial period with invariable association to Indonesia. Indonesia's private sector has made a number of efforts to establish business interests in Zimbabwe.

In this regard, we are happy that Dollar Bubi (Indonesian firm operating in Matabeleland North) invested in an ostrich project. "Now we continue to explore other avenues of strengthening our bilateral relations with Indonesia through tourism exchanges. "We are convinced that there is great potential for the establishment of viable economic relations between Zimbabwe and Indonesia," said Ms Mageza.

Earlier, Indonesia Minister of Culture and Tourism Mr Jero Wacik said he was impressed by Zimbabwe's tourism products. He, however, said until the conference, Indonesians were not aware that Zimbabwe offered some of the unspoilt world-acclaimed top tourism facilities such as golf cours es, top tourism attraction centres and vast tracts of game sanctuaries. Mr Wacik also said his government was eager to engage Zimbabwe on how to introduce safari hunting, wildlife farming, and have regular exchanges in various other fields of co-operation.

"We should have at least a cheap way of tourism marketing through cultural exchanges. "We want to introduce hunting but we do not know how to set out animal quotas and how that could benefit our economy. We do not have a wide range of wildlife like Zimbabwe have but of course we have tiger, rhino and other species. "I understand that Victoria Falls is one of the natural wonders of the world. I only read about it in a newspaper here last week, and I think if this kind of information can filter easily to the people then we can both of us benefit through increased visitors in Zimbabwe," said Mr Wacik. Cde Nhema admitted Zimbabwe had not mounted a strong marketing campaign to Indonesia since President Mugabe launched the Look East policy. He, however, indicated that Zimbabwe was eager to work closely with Indonesia in developing tourism, and create employment. "We have to have the right mindset to create wealth through tourism. Everyone has a duty to build Zimbabwe's image. Indonesia is a big market and Zimbabwe travel agents need to aggressively market the local tourism market and offer promotions for visitors."