Harare — THE long-awaited signing of the Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement between Zimbabwe and South Africa will take place on Friday, Economic Planning and Investment Promotion permanent secretary, Dr Desire Sibanda, has said.

Speaking on the sidelines of a consultative workshop on the Medium Term Plan, Dr Sibanda said the Bippa would be signed by Economic Planning and Investment Minister, Mr Elton Mangoma and South African Industry and Trade minister Dr Rob Davies.

Dr Sibanda said Dr Davies would be accompanied by at least 50 investors from his country and the signing ceremony would be followed by a matchmaking exercise to link local businesses with the visiting investors from South Africa.

"We have invited members of our business community to be part of the event and we hope that the event will help show South Africans and the rest of the world that Zimbabwe is a safe and viable investment location," he said.

He added that the signing of the Bippa would help enhance trade between the two countries given that South Africa is Zimbabwe's largest trading partner.

Another positive for the country, Dr Sibanda said, would be the opening up of credit lines from South Africa.

The Bippa between Zimbabwe and South Africa has been outstanding since last year.

The signing of the agreement has been stalled owing to a number of events and issues.

Last year, the signing was affected by the holding of national elections in the country and it was further postponed early this year as South Africans also went to the polls.

Apart from the two events there were also clashes on a clause to do with the protection of property rights with the Government refusing to include land in the agreement while South Africa wanted the clause protecting its property interest in the country to be included in the agreement.

This issue has since been resolved.

In August, Finance Minister Tendai Biti told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Budget, Finance and Investment Promotion that the Government was behaving "dishonourably" as it was responsible for the delay in the signing of the Bippa.

He said this was self-defeating as the country was negotiating for US$50 million in lines of credit from South Africa while also pursuing the restoration of the R2,65 billion facility made available by South Africa to Zimbabwe for 20 years.

The facility had been discontinued last year at the height of economic challenges in the country.

"We are scoring own goals, serious own goals," Minister Biti said at the time, adding that the delays were straining relations between the two countries.

The Bipa essentially guarantees security of investment of South African investors.