President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe with People's Republic of China Senior Military Commission Cheif Air Marshal Xu during a visit to Harare. The two countries have close ties going back decades., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.
Zim, China sign 3 MoU’s
Sunday, 24 February 2013 00:00
Zimbabwe Sunday Mail
Zimbabwe and the Republic of China have signed three bilateral agreements in the areas of information communication, agriculture and transport. A Chinese delegation led by that country’s Minister of Commerce, Mr Chen Deming, signed three memoranda of understanding with Zimbabwe.
The trade and economic delegation’s first port of call was Acting President Mujuru’s office where they told her China wants to further strengthen its economic relations with the Southern African state.
“The Chinese President will next month attend the BRICS summit in South Africa, a clear indication that the Asian country values Africa,” said Mr Deming.
The first MoU was an exchange agreement of an interest-free US$9, 6 million loan from China to Zimbabwe and a donation of three containers of wheat and grain for the Grain Marketing Board.
Finance Minister Tendai Biti, who signed the agreement on behalf of the Zimbabwe Government, said the money will be used to upgrade roads and road equipment mainly for Rural District Councils (RDCs).
“In 2011, we set aside US$60 million on RDC roads and part of it was used for Kadoma roads and this amount is going to be used to upgrade most rural roads throughout the country,” he said.
The second agreement was on agriculture equipment for the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development.
The minister, Dr Joseph Made, said the equipment will be used to assist small-scale irrigation farmers.
“This is a new model of farming that we would like to introduce in this country and with such assistance we are sure it will take off,” said Dr Made.
The third agreement was signed by the Minister of Media, Information and Publicity, Cde Webster Shamu, for the new US$6, 5 million ZBC Holdings outside broadcasting equipment and satellite uplink.
After signing the agreement, Cde Shamu said the development is a sign of the revolutionary solidarity between the two countries.
“Zimbabwe and China have always had a strong relationship and such agreements will see the two countries sharing and transforming ZBC from analogue to digital,” Cde Shamu said.
The outside broadcasting van and the uplink were recently commissioned by the Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, President Mugabe. — ZBC News
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