Harare — Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Tuesday said he was ready to mend ties with Western countries if they were willing to lift targeted sanctions imposed on his inner circle for alleged human rights abuses.
The US and the European Union (EU) have maintained a travel and trade embargo since 2002 against senior members of President Mugabe's Zanu-PF party and the military.
"Our country remains in a positive stance to enter into fresh, friendly and cooperative relations with all those countries that have been hostile to us," he said at the official opening of the second session of Zimbabwe's seventh parliament.
President Mugabe, in power since Zimbabwe's independence from Britain in 1980, formed a unity government with his long term rival and now Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai in February.
Tuesday's ceremony, broadcast live on state television, went smoothly compared to last year when jeers by MPs from Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) drowned President Mugabe's speech.
Tensions were high in the country following the June 27 presidential elections, which led to protracted talks in search for peace.
A power sharing agreement, signed on September 15, last year, has brought relative stability in the former southern Africa economic power house.
But the unity government is threatened by unending disputes over policy formulation, feuding over top posts and the direction Zimbabwe's foreign policy must take.
Western donors have also refused to help the fragile coalition fund the recovery of the country's comatose economy until it implements major political reforms.
The government says it needs $10 billion over the next fiver years to kickstart the recovery. President Mugabe said economic recovery had been slower than expected because the inclusive government had failed to meet some "parameters".
"As Zimbabweans, it is our destiny in our hands with the support of genuine partners," he said. A month before the formation of the unity government, Zimbabwe dumped its currency and adopted multiple currencies, which have helped reduce inflation to 0.4 per cent.
Schools and hospitals have re-opened but there are concerns that delayed reforms will reverse the gains.
Legal reforms
President Mugabe said the parliamentary session that will run for a year will debate a raft of legal reforms that are needed to improve the investment climate.
Among the pieces of legislation that would be tabled are a bill on the mining sector that is set to calm investors, who are skeptical about Zimbabwe's commitment to pro property rights.
The government will also consider commercialising or privatising state-owned enterprises, which President Mugabe said had been "albatross to the economy of the country".
Comments 1 to 5 of 42 Post a comment
Mugabe the Arrogant... The free world doesn't do deals with murdering thieving pigs like you ,Mnangagwa or the rest of your hyenas!!!!!!!!!!
What a relief, Mugabe is prepared to forgive all those who have sanctioned him!
Does he view all whites as being of such low intelligence that they would now accept his empty promises on anything?
Michael, George Bush had a very low "IQ". Maybe Mugabe knows something about people of EU that most of us have always suspected!
Phiri - you prove yourself to be a ZANU idiot.
George W. Bush received a bachelor's degree in history from Yale University in 1968, and then served as an F-102 fighter pilot in the Texas Air National Guard. President Bush received a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School in 1975. Following graduation, he moved back to Midland and began a career in the energy business.
Phiri - if your qualifications are better than this, then you have room to speak. If not, you are just another ZANU idiot.
DILIPPI, do not be foolish or fooled by George Bush degrees, which were largely given to him because of his family. Even a Failing Prince Charles graduated from college, without putting in any real work.
George Bush could not even complete one english sentence or spell or prounnouce the majority of English words. He is just a white chap, whose family bought him degrees. Who do you think your are talking to! I went to graduate school in the USA, like most Zimbabweans we are fairly well traveled around the world and educated.
Americans consider him one of the lowest "IQ" President ever to rule the USA. His results certainly confirm it. In future, think before you write your rubbish!!!
See All Comments