‘We’re selling Zim investment opportunities to Egypt’
EGYPT is set to host this year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference, more commonly referred to as COP27, in the resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh. This will mark the first time this important international summit will be held on African soil. The Sunday Mail’s WALLACE RUZVIDZO (WR) spoke to Egyptian Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Mr MAHMOUD AMER(MA), about the state of diplomatic and economic relations between the north African country and Zimbabwe. They also discussed the forthcoming climate indaba.
WR: How would you describe the diplomatic relations between Zimbabwe and Egypt?
MA: Zimbabwe and Egypt enjoy excellent diplomatic relations.
We enjoy very good political relations. There is deep understanding and respect between the Presidents of both countries.
They always confer when there are at international fora, so we have excellent political relations.
Economically, through the embassy here and the one in Cairo, we are trying to intensify collaboration in order to push our relationship to a new level.
The current economic and commercial relationship is not to my liking.
We need to enhance this relationship and that is what we are working on.
That is what I am trying to do with the Zimbabwean Ambassador to Cairo in order to bring our economic relationship to par with our excellent political relations.
WR: Can you outline the state of the trading relationship between the two countries?
MA: Minimum trade figures are something around $20 million annually.
There are sporadic commercial ties between us and we need it to be more institutionalised; not necessarily Government to Government, which I would also welcome. But in Egypt, we support both public and private companies.
So, we do not have a preference but we need our commercial ties to be more institutionalised and we need to push it to new levels.
By the way, that is what His Excellency President Mnangagwa said when I met him upon presenting my credentials, he was saying, “Ambassador we have excellent political relations, we need to bring economic relations up to par.” So I said to him, “Your Excellency, that is what I am devoted to and that is what I will work on during my tenure here.”
WR: You have been here for close to two years, how would you characterise your stay so far?
MA: I have been here for almost two years now. I met the late former Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade SB Moyo.
Zimbabwe is a lovely country and the best thing that I see here is the weather and the people. The people here are very warm, kind and easy-going.
You can make friends easily here and that is what makes life for foreigners very easy here.
The weather is extraordinary here; I have never seen weather that is nice all year round.
This is something phenomenal, so I am really enjoying my time here.
WR: Can you outline what your embassy has done to enhance co-operation between Zimbabwe and Egypt?
MA: We have excellent political relations that reflect in both our countries, helping one another in international fora.
We recently had a few visits from dignitaries here, we had the Speaker of the National Assembly Honourable (Jacob) Mudenda going to Egypt twice. He conferred with his counterpart in trying to boost the two Parliaments’ relations and that is a very important part of bilateral relations between any two countries.
We had the late Doug Munatsi, who was the head of the Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency (ZIDA), in Cairo as well last year.
He went there and met with the business community in Egypt in order to sell Zimbabwe to Egyptian entrepreneurs.
We are still working on the outcome of the visit and we hope it will be fruitful.
The third visit was that of Local Government and Public Works Minister July Moyo.
We have a new administrative capital that we just built in Egypt and Zimbabwe is embarking on its own version of a new smart city so that is where we are looking to see how we can help and co-operate.
WR: You mentioned that trade between Zimbabwe and Egypt stands at around US$20 million. What initiatives are being put in place to consolidate and improve trade?
MA: We are trying to build on that by making full use of the “Zimbabwe is Open for Business” mantra.
We are trying to sell Zimbabwe to Egyptian entrepreneurs and I think it is working.
I recently received a representative of Elsewedy electric company, which is one of the biggest entrepreneurial conglomerates in Egypt. They have diversified now and are now a group of many companies.
I think the representative had a successful one-on-one talk with many of her counterparts and many public entities here.
So hopefully this will boost our economic relations. Egypt has a Pan-African policy whereby we are trying to boost relations between Egypt and our fellow African nations.
President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi gave direct orders to all of us to boost relations between Egypt and African nations and no African nation will be left behind.
WR: Are there any particular sectors of the Zimbabwean economy Egyptian investors could be interested in?
MA: There is a wide range.
I know that the pillars of the economy here are agriculture, mining and tourism.
I think agriculture and tourism are two very important sectors where we can really develop our relations.
WR: Can you outline the cultural and social exchange programmes between the two countries?
MA: A mbira group that typifies Zimbabwean culture recently participated at an event in Egypt. We asked foreign groups to join in the festivities for the first time and Zimbabwe was one of the first to answer the call.
I thanked Minister of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation Kirsty Coventry yesterday (Wednesday) for participating and I spoke to her about some ideas on how to boost cultural ties as well.
I would like to have a full week event on Egyptian culture in Zimbabwe and we will try to develop this idea more in the future.
Culture is different, Egyptian culture is different from Zimbabwean culture.
But when the mbira group went to perform, Egyptians appreciated the Zimbabwean culture, which exemplifies the African cultures.
So, that is why I invited them to the embassy to congratulate them.
Because when a Zimbabwean cultural group goes to perform in Egypt and receives a very good reception, that is an achievement in itself.
I am very confident that we will have many more such endeavours in the cultural realm in order to boost our relationship in that important part of our overall relationship.
WR: What is your assessment of Zimbabwe’s re-engagement policy?
MA: The engagement and re-engagement policy is working.
I think also Zimbabwe has to deepen its cultural ties with the outside world in order for people to understand where Zimbabwe is coming from.
I can see that the “Zimbabwe is Open for Business” mantra is working successfully in complementing the engagement and re-engagement drive.
WR: You have spoken passionately about Pan-Africanism. But critics always say one of Africa’s greatest weaknesses is the lack of unity on international fora. What more do you think needs to be done to engender unity on the continent?
MA: As a continent, we have huge potential.
Up to 60 percent of the continent’s population is the youth. So, we are a continent that is heading into the future and not the past.
We have a lot of initiatives under the auspices of the African Union that we have to embolden and implement, most importantly Agenda 2063. It is not acceptable that inter-Africa trade is very minimal compared to trade between Africa and the outside world.
So as a continent we have a lot to offer and still a lot to do.
WR: What is Egypt’s position on the imposition of unilateral coercive measures against weaker countries by the West?
MA: Under the auspices of the AU, Egypt and other African nations have said that sanctions should be abolished.
Recently, we have the international community resorting to using sanctions more and as Egypt, we have warned that this is not the right path to use.
Within the African Union, all countries are coming together to condemn these sanctions.
WR: Can you briefly give us a preview of the forthcoming international climate summit Egypt is hosting?
MA: This year Egypt is hosting COP27 and we are talking on behalf of African nations when it comes to environmental issues.
This is the first time this conference is being held in an African nation.
Hopefully, it is going to be a successful endeavour whereby Egypt will try to push for the African cause.
We want the international community to heed African countries’ call to help the African nations with mitigation and adaptation.
We are trying to speak with one African voice at COP27 because this is our future, the whole world’s future is relying on these conferences.