Zimbabwe and China have adjusted their cooperation framework to focus mainly on agriculture and housing, with the Asian economic giant set to release nearly $6 billion for the two sectors.

Zimbabwe’s Minister of Macro Economic Planning and Investment Promotion Obert Mpofu was in Beijing last week to finalise the deals and facilitate release of the funds.

The deals were signed under the African Union’s Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement with China.

Mpofu was accompanied by his country’s Minister of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Joseph Made and Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Saviour Kasukuwere.

Speaking an interview in China, Mpofu said Zimbabwe had adjusted its priorities on cooperation with the Asian country to focus on the two areas, which government believes are important for economic progress.

“We submitted projects that we feel are key under our economic revival, that is agriculture, support in agriculture, as well as support in housing,” he said. “Hence the presence of Minister Made and Minister Kasukuwere to actually beef up our delegation in arguing our case for the support.”

Mpofu met with Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao and the country’s Minister of Agriculture Han Changfu and Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng to discuss the funding.

 “Among six or so projects that were submitted, we have now centered on the two that I mentioned and the discussions and engagement that we have made so far are very encouraging,” he said.

“We prioritised our initial submissions to deal with agriculture and housing because any economy can only be active if agriculture is producing something. That is where the sustenance of the economy is because agriculture leads all other sectors of the economy into boosting production.”

Mpofu said Zimbabwe chose agriculture and housing because they also come with employment and technological advancement.

He said in their meetings, the Chinese officials expressed an interest in Zimbabwe’s horticulture, beef, citrus fruits and organic products.

“These products can be supplied to Chinese markets within a day, thus we have also engaged them to open their markets for trade in agriculture,” said Mpofu.

Mpofu also signed an agreement with China worth $46 million as part of the first trench of funds for the construction of a new Parliament Building, just outside the capital, Harare.

Of the $6 billion to be availed by China, $4 billion is expected to go towards agriculture, while the remainder will be used for the country’s National Housing Delivery Programme.

Mpofu is Zimbabwe’s coordinator for the implementation of projects being carried out under the Forum for China-Africa Cooperation, as pronounced at the body’s summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, last year.

While he was in China, Mpofu attended a meeting between China and African countries on reviewing the implementation of the Johannesburg FOCAC outcomes.

At the meeting, he supervised the signing of more deals worth nearly $1 billion for the construction of a mega dam near Harare and the expansion of the country’s telecommunications network.

The deals involved Chinese firm, Sino-Hydro, signing an investment agreement with the Zimbabwean government worth $600 million for the construction of Kunzvi-Musami Dam.

The other deal saw NetOne acting chief executive Mr Brian Mutandiro signing a deal with Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd for the overhaul of the telecoms firm’s systems.

Speaking after signing the agreement with Sino-Hydro, Zimbabwean government official Prince Mupazviriho said construction of the Kunzvi-Musami Dam would start early next year.

“We see it as a major milestone towards addressing the shortage of water in the Greater Harare area,” he said. “I hope that by the first of April 2017 we should be doing the construction.”

Kunzvi-Musami Dam, 67 kilometres north-east of Harare, was mooted more than 30 years ago, but lack of funds stalled construction.

Mutandiro said the NetOne deal would result in the adaption of new technologies and establishment of nearly 3 000 more network base stations for the telecommunications firm.

China and Zimbabwe are already working on other deals worth billions of dollars to improve infrastructure such as power stations, rail and roads.

Some of the deals were signed when President Robert Mugabe visited Beijing in 2014, while more others were inked when President Xi Jinping went to Harare last year.