Mukudzei Chingwere in DUSHANBE, Tajikistan
The Government has been impressed by Tajikistan's industrialisation model and will seek to replicate it as it guarantees domestic value addition of minerals, agricultural produce and other raw materials.
This was said by Vice President Dr Constantino Chiwenga after touring the Tajikistan Industrial Exhibition at the Dushanbe Expo Centre on the sidelines of the just-ended third Dushanbe Water Process High-Level International Conference on International Decade for Action "Water for Sustainable Development, 2018-2028" here.
Zimbabwe is on a drive to improve its production capacity and value addition of mineral resources and agricultural produce, identified as areas in need of a reboot in line with President Mnangagwa's Vision 2030.
VP Chiwenga took advantage of the international water conference to discuss areas of collaboration with other Government representatives and get an appreciation of Tajikistan's economy whose progress has earned international admiration.
According to the World Bank, Tajikistan has enormous growth potential due to a young and growing population, water and hydropower potential and development in areas such as agriculture and food processing, mineral resources, tourism and more.
The World Bank has also noted that over the last decade, Tajikistan experienced strong economic performance, with growth rate averaging above 7,1 percent.
Strong growth, higher wages and international remittances helped reduce the number of people living in poverty from 32 percent of the population in 2009 to an estimated 12.4 percent in 2022'.
"We have seen what the Tajikistanis have done over the years from agriculture, to food processing, mining and the value addition they do to their minerals. It is quite impressive.
"The resilience and the innovativeness of the Tajikistan people is quite impressive.
"When you look at the development and evolution, some of the companies started their production in the 1960s, but they are evolving and perfecting their products," said VP Chiwenga.
"More importantly is the use of water and now I understand why Tajikistan is the king of water in Central Asia. We can see what the Government of Tajikistan has done in terms of supplying water to the region and they have gone a step further to develop energy from water and supply electricity to neighbouring countries."
He said President Mnangagwa had prioritised local production and the revival of the manufacturing sector, which had seen Zimbabwean supermarkets having 80 percent of locally produced food compared to the previous 30 percent.
President Mnangagwa envisioned a situation where 100 percent products needed by Zimbabweans would be 100 percent locally produced, adding that the country had learnt a lot from Tajikistan.
"The take away here is that we are an agricultural country and we should not only produce, but value add what we produce.
"This is what is very important and there is nothing which stops us from advancing.
"We want to emulate the value addition they do to their minerals and with the innovation hubs we have now established in Zimbabwe through the ingenuity of His Excellency the President, we need to move fast and develop.
"Our populations are not very different. There are only about 10 million people here and we about 16 million so if they can do it we should be able to do it as well," said VP Chiwenga.
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Meanwhile, the water conference which was the primary purpose of the Vice President's working visit here ended with the heads of delegation, high-level representatives of states, major organisations and other stakeholders reaffirming their commitment to the United Nations General Assembly's resolution of September 25, 2015.
Back then, the UN resolved to ensure the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all and other water-related goals and targets by 2030.
The conference noted that the world was still far from achieving the objectives and agreed to protect human health and well-being by accelerating progress in the provision of safely managed water and sanitation services and the promotion of better hygiene through improved water management, including the protection of all freshwater resources.
