Farai Mabeza, Senior Staff Writer 
ZIMTRADE says there is a need for a bilateral trade agreement between Zimbabwe and Zambia to cement historical economic relations and boost current efforts to promote trade between the two countries.
The trade development and promotion body’s manager for the southern region, Jacqueline Nyathi, told The Financial Gazette during a trade mission to Kitwe in the Copperbelt province of Zambia that there was a strong interest from business communities on both sides of the Zambezi River to grow economic ties between the two countries.
Jacqueline Nyathi, ZimTrade southern region manager
“The potential (to grow business) is there and right now there are joint efforts by the authorities and the private sectors to do just that. If you look at this trade mission you will see that there was quite a lot of interest from both the private sector and various government departments who were interested in interrogating how best we can grow trade between Zambia and Zimbabwe,” Nyathi said.
“We do have our African Continental Free Trade Area which is opening up the whole of the African continent, unifying us in terms of trade of goods and services across borders.
“But as Zimbabwe, we do have bilateral trade agreements with countries such as Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique and Malawi.
“For the longest time, Zambia has been one of our trading partners and we have had companies saying; why don’t we have a bilateral agreement with Zambia considering that we have agreements with other neighbouring countries,” Nyathi added.
Nyathi expressed confidence that the two respective governments would address the issue.
“The ambassador (Zimbabwe’s ambassador to Zambia, Charity Charamba) was present (during the Kitwe mission) and I believe she took note of that and already there are some MoUs that are signed between Zambia and Zimbabwe.
“I am sure as part of their joint economic efforts where they try to foster trade between the two countries, it is something that they will definitely consider and we look forward to hearing,” Nyathi said.
This comes as trade between the two neighbours has been steadily rising notwithstanding disruptions over the last two years caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Our exports to Zambia have been increasing for the past three years. In 2019 we were at US$59 million then they took a dive in 2020 due to Covid and went down to US$53 million, but in 2021 we recorded just above US$60 million.
“Zambia’s exports to Zimbabwe have also been increasing quite significantly. Last year they were at US$204 million and it was mainly building materials, limestone and cement, whereas our exports were articles of wood; timber, gum poles, tubing that is being used in the construction sector,” Nyathi said.
ZimTrade was established in 1991 as a joint-venture partnership between the private sector and the government of Zimbabwe.
ZimTrade works with its parent Foreign Affairs ministry and other public sector agencies to improve trade regulations and trade policies for the benefit of the exporting community in Zimbabwe.
The trade body participates in national consultations on various relevant matters including regional integration and bilateral trade agreements.
“We always aim to create new opportunities for our exporters and to reduce the hurdles to exporting,” ZimTrade explained in a note.
