ZimTrade conference to tackle Zimbabwe export competitiveness

ZimTrade, the country's national trade development and promotion organisation, will host its Annual Exporters' Conference and Exporter of the year Awards on 8 October 2015 at the Meikles Hotel in Harare.

The Conference, which will be held under theme ‘Building Enterprise Competitiveness for Export', will be officially opened by the Minister of Industry and Commerce, Mike Bimha.

ZimTrade Chief Executive Officer, Ms. Pilime, highlighted that the Conference theme was necessitated by the need to tackle impediments affecting the competitiveness of the country's exports.

"The need for collective efforts to address the unsustainable trade deficit, which increased by 3.6% to US$1.83 billion in the first six months of 2015 compared to the same period in 2014, cannot be over-emphasised," said Ms. Pilime.

The Conference will focus on Trade facilitation (Simplifying export processes) as well as on how the country could leverage on the Export of Services.

The Exporter of the Year Awards, whose objective is to acknowledge and appreciate the efforts by companies who managed to continue exporting despite the difficult operating environment, will be held in the evening of the same day.

Over 200 stakeholders from existing and emerging exporters, Government, Industry lobby organisations, Development Cooperation Partners and Trade Support Institutions will attend this event.