Zimbabwe's participation at Expo 2025 Osaka presents the country an ideal platform and opportunity to project itself as a prime destination for foreign direct investment (FDI) as well as strengthen its bilateral and multilateral trade and economic ties.
What is clear from the country's participation at this global event, this time around, is clarity of vision of what the country seeks to achieve, how this can be achieved and the specific targets of the tangible results and benefits being sought.
Already, Zimbabwe is attracting huge amounts of investments thanks to various marketing efforts by the Second Republic and promotional efforts by various State agencies, including ZimTrade, at international exhibitions.
The dividends partly manifested last year when Zimbabwe attracted investments from at least 46 countries, while 615 new investment projects have been licensed this year, an increase of 130 percent from 2022.
This aligns with the Government policy thrust of economic diplomacy, engagement and reengagement as well as private sector and export-led growth policy thrust.
Zim needs to cultivate new and broad trade and investment relations to cover lost ground following decades-long Western sanctions, which have weighed on economic growth, development and the prosperity of the country's citizenry.
A total of 153 countries have already confirmed participation at the global showcase to be held from April 13 to October 13, 2025, presenting the country a perfect occasion to pitch the limitless investment options resident across the economy.
A total of 25 million visitors are expected to grace the event in Japan during the six months long exhibition.
Zimbabwe is targeting to attract at least 3 million visitors to its strategically located pavilion at the world trade and investment showpiece, providing a rare chance to showcase the country's trade and investment opportunities, natural endowments, culture and history to the world.
Broadly, investment opportunities cut across key sectors that include agriculture, manufacturing, tourism, mining and infrastructural development. The key sectors have numerous other value chains investors can exploit.
Zimbabwe will exhibit under the theme, "Beyond Limits" and its pavilion will embrace diversity, innovation, and resilience, with the main thrust being how the country is surmounting various impediments through the employment of innovations.
The pavilion's theme aligns with the Second Republic's mantras and philosophies such as "Nyika inovakwa, Igonamatirwa neVene Vayo", "A Friend to All, An Enemy to None", "Zimbabwe is Open for Business", "Leaving No One and No Place Behind", "Reform and Opening Up", "Brick by Brick, Stone upon Stone", "Engagement and Re-Engagement", "Innovation, Modernisation and Industrialisation".
The country is also engaging all key stakeholders across the country's 10 provinces to gather their input and insights as well as drum up support for the event, following a national consultative meeting held in Bulawayo recently.
Further consultations will also afford the country an opportunity to take stock of achievements at Expo 2020 Dubai and challenges encountered, to better prepare the country for the next exhibition in Japan.
Expo 2025 commissioner-general Allan Majuru, who is also the national trade promotion and development body, ZimTrade chief executive officer, is already on record stating the country is targeting results in terms of the number and quality of deals.
"We need trade, we need investment, we need tourists to come to Zimbabwe," he said, at a media event to launch Zimbabwe's participation at Expo 2025 Osaka.
The Southern African country should be able to achieve its objectives for several reasons, including the positive vibe and image the country managed to create and project, respectively, to the global investors at Expo 2020 Dubai.
Given the invaluable experience and insights from Expo 2020 Dubai, however, deferred to 2021 due to Covid-19 disruptions, Zimbabwe should do better this time and position itself for increased investments and business from Japan and the rest of the world.
Zimbabwe now enjoys strong trade and investment relations with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), following its strong exhibition at the last global showcase, only a few years after the two countries established consulate presence in each other's territories.
The UAE is now Zimbabwe's second-largest trading partner after South Africa.
Trade between the two countries has been growing steadily over the past years, a welcome development as it aligns with Harare's aspiration of becoming an upper-middle-income society by 2030.
Part of the phenomenal growth in trade, which has also seen growth in investor interest from the Gulf country's investors, is largely attributed to the country's participation at Expo 2020 Dubai.
While Zimbabwe will seek to attract investment and business opportunities as well as project itself to investors and explore business opportunities from across the world, this presents a huge opportunity to expand economic relations with the host Japan.
Mr Majuru has not made the country's bullish prospects a secret during a recent media engagement event to officially launch the country's participation at the forthcoming global showcase.
"We are targeting 3 million visitors to our stand, but we are not going to focus on just numbers, but also quality. At the end of the day, we need to come and report back to yourselves (Zimbabweans) the business we will have generated.
"There are over 150 countries participating...so it's a place where we all need to be," he said.
He said the country's objective would be to promote brand Zimbabwe, the country's world-class tourism attributes, trade and investment.
The country registered early its participation at Expo 2025 Osaka, securing itself a prime spot close to the entrance and Mr Majuru believes that "everyone passing through will see us".
The location, he added, was also strategic in that it is situated right in front of where national day activities will be taking place, putting Zimbabwe in a good position to project itself optimally.
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"We also need to use this as a platform to learn and benchmark against international best practices and gather market intelligence..."
Mr Majuru said the country had put down targets and the associated numbers, regarding what it sought to bring back from the global expo after the six months showcase is finished.
Japan Embassy Charge d'Affaires, Mr Hiroyuki Kumagai, recently Japan was working tirelessly to deliver a successful expo, adding the event presented huge opportunities for mutual exchanges among participants.
He also said Zimbabwe's participation would certainly further its relations with Japan. said the expo provided an opportunity for Zimbabwe to grow its relations with Japan. He said Osaka 2025 will provide a platform for countries to showcase their designs, innovations that will shape future society.
"This event provides a unique opportunity to nations around the globe to show their innovations, experiences and visions for a sustainable and inclusive future. It is our hope from April 13 to October 13, 2025, visitors will experience unity in diversity," he said.
"We believe that this expo will not only foster cooperation and dialogue, but also inspire people to think creatively about the challenges that we face today," he said, adding that Japan would demonstrate its experiences, contributions cutting-age technology and innovations to the world.
"With the expo expecting more than 150 countries and more than 28 million visitors, Zimbabwe will utilise the opportunity to showcase the beauty and potential of the country," he said.
