The African Development Bank (AfDB) will host the Friends of Zimbabwe Roundtable, to discuss economic and political developments in the country on 23 March. The meeting will also focus on the prospects of dealing with the country's external debt arreears.

The presentation of the Zimbabwe Accelerated Arrears, Debt and Development Strategy (ZAADDS) is a useful framework to address the issue of Zimbabwe's external debt. ZAADDS is a key element of the government's economic reform agenda. "It is clear that Zimbabwe cannot rehabilitate its infrastructure and move forward with its socio-economic transformation reforms if the debt overhangs challenge is not urgently resolved," said the Zimbabwean prime minister, Morgan Tsvangirai.

Over recent years, Zimbabwe has implemented major reforms and the government has expressed willingness to pursue the process of reform. The country's finance ,inister, Tendai Biti, will update the AfDB on recent developments.

As well as Zimbabwe, the countries and institutions that will be attending the Roundtable are Australia, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States, the European Union, the European Investment Bank, the United Nations Development Programme, the International Monetary Fund, the Paris Club and the World Bank.

Contacts

Aristide Ahouassou