ZIMBABWE is now in a strong position to produce surplus wheat for export leveraging on agriculture equipment support extended by Belarus, a top diplomat from Minsk said last week.
Belarusian foreign affairs minister Sergey Aleinik who was in the country to attend the first session of the Zimbabwe-Belarus Joint Permanent Commission on Cooperation (JPCC) underscored that Harare was steadily improving its wheat production riding on the support it was receiving from Minsk.
Over the years, President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration has cultivated ties with Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko, culminating in the establishment of the JPCC between the two countries.
Mnangagwa is expected to visit Belarus this year, where various investment and cooperation agreements will be signed as Harare and Minsk strengthen existing bilateral ties.
"We have concentrated on a number of successfully implemented projects, primarily in the field of agricultural mechanisation. This project was implemented in two phases,” Aleinik said during a press conference held in the capital.
“From my point of view, the project is historic. It is a project that has enabled Zimbabwe to become self-sufficient in wheat production. And by the end of 2023, for the first time in its history, Zimbabwe started exporting wheat to other countries.”
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Trade volumes between Belarus and Zimbabwe have been rising, with the Eastern European country increasing its exports by 103% by the end of 2023.
Zimbabwe's Foreign Affairs and International Trade mnister Frederick Shava underscored that trade between the countries had multiplied eight-fold by 2023.
"The excellent bilateral relations that exist between Zimbabwe and Belarus have continued to grow at an exponential rate as illustrated by the frequent exchange of high-level visits and continuous engagements by our two Presidents in forums, the most recent being the meeting between our two Presidents on the side-lines that was held in Dubai in December 2023," Shava said.
Last year, Lukashenko visited the country for talks with Emmerson Mnangagwa as the nations broadened their diplomatic ties.
Lukashenko’s trip followed a 2019 visit by Mnangagwa to Minsk, after which Belarus opened an embassy in Harare.
Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) president Shadreck Makombe acknowledged that support from Belarus was driving Zimbabwe’s wheat production.