Bulawayo industries need foreign investment to be fully rehabilitated and brought to international standards, a diplomat has said.
Addressing a Press conference at the Bulawayo Arts Gallery yesterday, the head of the European Union (EU) delegation to Zimbabwe, Ambassador Aldo Dell’Ariccia, said the city had the capacity to lead the country’s economic recovery through re-industrialisation.
“I believe Zimbabwe can be the hub of Sadc considering the amount of intellectual capacity it has. Bulawayo can lead in this recovery. This needs investment, but not only national investment, but also international investment and investment of international institutions. The equipment is obsolete and will not be competitive in the international market.
“The international community, and on this I can speak on behalf of the EU, will work on this,” he said. The EU delegation’s senior staff is in Bulawayo until Thursday in a move Dell’Ariccia said, would allow them to “engage with local economic, social and political actors to assert publicly and clearly its (EU) commitment to the development of the region as well as to seek insights and ideas for the future prospects of engagement in Matabeleland”.
The ambassador said the EU was not opposed to indigenisation.
