Nyasha Mukapiko
Zimbabwe owes German USD 739 million. This was revealed by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development Hon Patrick Chinamasa soon after a closed door meeting with Ambassador George Schmidt, director of Africa division in the ministry of foreign affairs in Berlin, today in the capital.
Minister Chinamasa said he had fruitful discussions centering on the debt issue, engagement with International Monetary Fund (IMF), relationship with the Paris club creditors of which Germany is the largest creditor and also a member of.
Hon Chinamasa said the visit by Ambassador George Schmidt was very significant citing that it was going to restore political and economic relations which had been hindered by the imposition of sanctions in 2002.
“He is on an exploratory visit to understand our conscience about our relationship as also we would do to understand their conscience about the relationship, its two way traffic”, Minister Chinamasa highlighted.
The minister of finance also said that they were going to sent technical people to Berlin upon their invitation to visit the ministry of finance to talk about the debt and also on the economic relations on how it can move forward.
In his speech the minister of finance said he had also talked with the visiting Ambassador on the rule of law highlighting that it was their objective to maintain and continue the rule of law.
“The rule of law is very important in any legal system as it means that things become predictable, it also means that any people aggrieved by the system can have recourse to the law in a predictable manner”, Minister Chinamasa said.
Ambassador George Schmidt said it was important in political terms that people can feel they are protected by the law but it was also important in economical terms because foreign investors first look into the terms conditions and also the disputes before they engage a country.
Three weeks ago the ministry of finance signed with the European Union Development Assistance a tune of 234 million Euros with half the amount expected to be released this year while the remainder we be spread over.
