'Zimbabwe open for business'

Cape Town - Zimbabwean Finance Minister Tendai Biti promised investors that a bilateral investment and protection agreement with South Africa will be signed by the end of June.

Speaking during a session of the World Economic Forum on Africa on Friday, Biti explained that the agreement, which was supposed to have been signed in April at Polokwane, failed the last hurdle because of anxieties over land ownership under Zimbabwe's land reform process.

"The principles are understood," Biti said.

Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe told the meeting on the topic Reconstructing Zimbabwe that the country does not have the luxury of time.

"It has to move with great speed," he said. "In our case, South African investors are very keen that we go there in droves."

But Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara declared confidently: "Zimbabwe is open for business." Agreeing that the political situation was less than ideal, Mutambara conceded that the unity government was "sub-optimal", but insisted this was the price Zimbabweans were prepared to pay for a return to stability.

"Otherwise we would have ended up like Somalia," he said. He added that the country preferred 2% of an elephant to 100% of a rat.

He enthusiastically reported, however, that as far as building the country's economy was concerned, the government preferred delivery to ownership.

He said the state at present was unable to provide water, electricity, communications or transportation and is prepared to enter into partnership with private industries to ensure delivery.

I-Net Bridge