China can help the New Zimbabwe seize New Opportunities

The great Chinese philosopher Sun Tzu once wrote, "Opportunities multiply as they are seized". In November of last year, ED seized an opportunity on behalf of a nation. Since this moment, opportunities have only continued to multiply.

However let's remember how dangerous it was, once upon a time, to try and seize opportunities in what was believed to be ‘splendid isolation'. Going it alone failed. Opportunities were missed. Mass unemployment and hyperinflation were the result. Abject poverty and terrible suffering.

So today I'm flabbergasted when I see the online criticism hurled at ED for his foreign trips. What do you think the F stands for in FDI? For those who don't know, it is FOREIGN Direct Investment. Only through FDI can we reignite our stagnant economy. Only through FDI can we inject real cash, foreign currency, into our system. Only through FDI can we begin to create jobs and feel the real positive impact this new era promises to bring us.

Let's just look at some of the positive results from the China trip alone. Over a billion dollars secured for the Hwange power plant project, a matter which was all but dead two weeks ago. Without power, people cannot work, people cannot charge their phones, hospitals cannot function. We are currently lagging behind many of our regional neighbours in terms of electricity provision and ED was right to have this at the top of his shopping list.

Another 200 million USD was secured to expand the airport. If we are to be truly open for business, if we are to really open up our sanctioned and battered nation to the world, we must have a state of the art airport to boot.

During these negotiations, ED managed to convince his counterparts that all fresh loans and grants must be delinked from former dues. Just as when the US wants to stimulate growth they dig in to their (and China's!) pockets to build infrastructure, and spend; so must we! We cannot be judged or held back by previous burdens, rather we must look forward and stimulate further growth.

Projects such as the Kunzvi Dam are back on the agenda following this trip, while deals to create new Special Economic Zones and Industrial Parks were also agreed to. A 1.2 billion dollar MoU was penned focusing on tourism, a much neglected area of opportunity. This includes a new 5 star resort for our beautiful national treasure, Victoria Falls. These are not short sighted, short term deals. Rather they are looking to build long term sustainable solutions to the jobs and cash crisis which we have been suffering under for far too long.

By upgrading our status to a strategic partner we are showing China that while we open our doors to the West, we are not slamming the door to the East. Let us not forget that China stood with us through thick and thin, from our revolutionary struggle against colonialism all the way through the toughest times under the ball and chain of international sanctions.

However, just as Sun Tzu taught us, opportunities are multiplied when they are seized. And ED's outreach to the US, European companies and of course our regional friends and allies have multiplied the opportunities for all Zimbabweans. With over seven billion dollars of commitments now signed since that exciting day in November, we are truly in a new era. Cash and jobs will follow once these commitments become living projects. And this is just the beginning.

Of course Rome was not built in a day, indeed it was not even built in five months. But after what ED has already done for Zimbabwe, both in the eyes of the world, and in the pockets of the nation, in five months, just imagine what he can do in five years.