MASHONALAND Central Provincial Affairs minister Martin Dinha has announced plans to enter into a twinning arrangement with a Japanese province, the Prefecture of Hyogo, to expedite development of special economic zones.
By Tinotenda Munyukwi
Dinha told Japanese ambassador to Zimbabwe Toshiyuki Iwado during a visit to the province last week that he recently met representatives from the Prefecture of Hyogo and resolved to partner in areas such as agriculture, mining and engineering.
“We were recently in South Korea where a Japanese province, the Prefecture of Hyogo, made a presentation and we were excited because the economic zones that we want to introduce in Zimbabwe, they have them in Japan so we want to follow that,” he said.
“We now have a programme to work with that province and the coming of His Excellency (Japanese ambassador) to the province is a great honour because it kick-starts the projects. Mind you, we have started a primary school in the province where four blocks were built through Japanese aid and our relations go a long way,” Dinha said.
Government early this year made a commitment to structure special ec4onomic zones for all provinces in order to attract foreign direct investment.
“Japan has a bigger market for many of our things including steel production, minerals and gold. We even have opportunities to export foodstuffs to Japan and we have vibrant agriculture in Mash Central so we want our Japanese counterparts to join us because we also know they are good in various areas that include engineering,” Dinha said.
President Robert Mugabe last year visited Japan to reinforce economic co-operation between the two countries.
