The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is to deepen economic ties with Zimbabwe, particularly in the fields of transport, agriculture, and climate change mitigation, and has announced deeper economic cooperation with the landlocked African country.
The UAE Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Dr Jassim al Qasimi, made the announcement after a visit to the Zimbabwean Vice-President, Dr Constantino Chiwenga, in Harare on Thursday. He added that the UAE was becoming one of the largest trading partners with Zimbabwe after several companies had heeded the call for investment into the country.
The UAE will host this year's COP28 from November 30 to December 12 at Expo City Dubai, where it will aim to unite the world towards agreement on bold, practical and ambitious solutions to the most pressing global climate challenges.
This month, President Mnangagwa witnessed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) worth $1.5 billion between UAE-based Global Carbon Investments and the government to undertake efforts to reduce carbon emissions in relevant sectors, such as power generation and transport.
The UAE is a global leader in the transport sector, gearing up for a carbon-neutral future.
"We discussed the relationship between our two countries and we also discussed opportunities in different sectors. Some of the sectors we discussed for further collaboration are agriculture, climate change, transport and improving trade, among other things,” said Ambassador Al Qasimi.
He said the UAE was looking forward to greater cooperation between the two countries.
The diversified economy of the UAE had grown rapidly and its example was a model Zimbabwe could tap into as it journeyed towards upper-middle income status by 2030, Ambassador al Qasimi said.