Plans to hold first Chinese investment expo in Zimbabwe on course: official

HARARE, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- Plans to hold an inaugural investment expo for Chinese investors in Zimbabwe's agriculture sector are still on course, a Zimbabwean official said on Friday.

Zimbabwe Agricultural Society (ZAS) Chief Executive Officer Andrew Matibiri told Xinhua in a phone interview that preparations for the expo are well on track, with the event likely to be held in the first half of 2025.

"Preparations for the expo are still on course. At the moment, we are just finishing our budgets because our financial year ends at the end of September, so we are just finalizing our budgets in preparation for that and other things that we want to do," Matibiri said.

According to him, the biggest investors in Zimbabwe's economy are those from China.

"So the Chinese investors can benefit, and we can also benefit from further interaction with potential investors from China," he said, adding that the expo will specifically attract existing and potential Chinese investors to Zimbabwe's agricultural sector.

In July, Maxwell Mutema, chairman of the Agriculture Development Committee in the ZAS, told Xinhua that the expo would be held in recognition of the important role that Chinese investors are playing in the development of Zimbabwe's economy.

Mutema said the Zimbabwean government would coordinate with the Chinese embassy and the ZAS to convene the event, which would be held at the ZAS grounds in downtown Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe.

The committee chairman also expressed hope that the investment expo would grow into a bigger annual event dedicated to showcasing Chinese investment in Zimbabwe's economy.