US assisting in exporting Marange diamonds

The United States of America Ambassador, Charles Ray, has confirmed that his government is working with the Kimberly Process in exporting diamonds from Marange.

The Ambassador said his government has got also a highly successful loan guarantee programme to pump the much needed capital back into the agricultural sector so as to promote food security and help the country to return to its rightful status as the breadbasket of the region.

The ambassador said the first step to normalise the US –Zimbabwe relations is to recultivate the two country's partnership.

He said he will be among the first to recognize that the bilateral relationship (Zimbabwe-USA) today is like a dysfunctional friendship or a faltering joint venture.

"Despite a strong initial foundation, both sides have made mistakes along the way", said Ray.

He alleges that US has never stopped engaging, "We have always maintained full diplomatic relations, Zimbabwe has always had a Full Ambassador in Washington and I represent an unbroken continuum of Ambassadors here dating back to independence".

"We hear a lot these days about Zimbabwe's "re-engagement" with so-called western countries. I tend to dismiss that phrasing because we have never stopped engaging. We have always maintained full diplomatic relations," he said.

He repeated his statement that the US does not favour any one party over another in Zimbabwe. He said the US want to see an environment where all parties have the same ability to present themselves to the public and to compete to represent the people in government.

The policy dialogue meeting was organised Bulawayo Agenda.