Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe has officially opened Zambia’s 86th Agriculture and Commercial Show with a call for two countries to take advantage of their landlocked for trade.
And President Mugabe has since left the country after two days of state visit.
Opening the Fair Saturday afternoon, Mr Mugabe said Zambia and Zimbabwe should not complain of being landlocked but instead see this geographical position as land-linked and capitalize on it in trade.
President Mugabe pointed at Chirundu one stop boarder post as one venture that was promoting inter-trade between the two countries and called on more cooperation.
He called on Ministries of Commerce and Industry of both Zambia and Zimbabwe to be more aggressive in adopting and adapting to cutting edge innovative solutions in order to sustain competitiveness.
Mr. Mugabe explained that investment in relevant technology to improve productivity and quality of goods and services is critical in order to take advantage of export opportunities in the region and beyond. He says the theme for the Fair was timely saying it rightfully points out Zambia’s economic potential in Southern Africa. He observed that Agriculture was one important sector with the potential and needs to be exploited.
President Mugabe thanked President Sata for giving him the honor to grace the Fair which he said was reciprocating to the people of Zambia for having had the Zambian leader also grace the International Fair in April this year.
He said he was hopful that the two countries will sucessfuly co-host the UN World Tourism which will be held for the second time in Africa.
The Zimbabwean leader observed that the Fair offers a platform for business networking and sharing of ideas between, agriculturists, industrialists and investors in Africa and beyond. He commended the companies that were taking part in the Fair.
After his address, Mr Mugabe only watched some traditional dances, Marjory dancers and a military performance by Zambia National Service and then left. But earlier he presented prizes to winners of this year’s Fair