Zimbabwe: Zim, Tanzania Sign 5 MOUs

By Farirai Machivenyika

Zimbabwe and Tanzania yesterday signed five Memoranda of Understanding to strengthen their diplomatic and economic ties at the end of the three-day Eighth Session of the Joint Permanent Commission of Cooperation meeting held in Harare.

Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Dr Sibusiso Moyo and Tanzania's Minister of

Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation Palamagamba Kabudi signed three MoUs on diplomatic and political consultation, cooperation on economic, industry and trade relations and tourism development.

The other two on promotion of small and medium enterprises development and cooperation towards the promotion and empowerment of women, gender equality and community development were signed between Minister Kabudi and Women's Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Minister Sithembiso Nyoni.

In his remarks Minister Moyo commended the two countries for convening the Eighth Session of the JPCC that had been dormant for 21 years.

"I want to complement our conveners for working tirelessly to make the Eighth Session of the Zimbabwe-Tanzania JPCC a success. It has been a very productive session which has been long overdue hopefully it will kick start the convening of regular sessions of the JPCC," Minister Moyo said.

He urged the officials to work towards completing other MoUs.

"We note that there are a number of agreements and outstanding MoUs that await finalisation. I would like to urge the concerned ministries from both sides to expeditiously negotiate these important agreements as they provide the requisite legal basis for our cooperation," he said.

"As we move towards the implementation of these agreements, I am convinced of the need to convene a mid-term review by our senior officials to set our monitoring and evaluation mechanisms. We don't want to be told in the next JPCC that such agreement has not been signed or one is still being considered."

Minister Moyo also emphasised the importance of economic relations between two countries.

"Our economic sphere is the most important sphere of our relations. It is what is tangible to our people so that they understand that there is Zimbabwe and there is Tanzania on the other side in which I am providing and facilitating investment, trade and tourism," Minister Moyo said.

In his remarks after the signing ceremony Minister Kabudi said the MoUs would form the basis of the two countries' cooperation.

"The MoUs we have signed today are now the framework of cooperation in the agreed areas between our two countries. The successful implementation of the areas of cooperation will definitely contribute to the socio-economic development of our two countries. It is therefore important to commit ourselves to the implementation of these areas," Minister Kabudi.