China Pleads For Bulawayo From Zim Gvt

Shukang, who was speaking at the China-Zimbabwe Business Forum at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF), said the Zimbabwean government should experiment by giving them a city they can turn around into a modern city.

“Bulawayo is the industrial zone of this country. I have spent three years in Harare and never ventured here. Indeed Bulawayo is the commercial capital of Zimbabwe. In Bulawayo, there is a lot of potential. We can work together to make Bulawayo a modern city. Entrepreneurs from China will find abundant business opportunities here.

“In the early 1970s, the Chinese situation was like the Zimbabwean situation today, and the Chinese provided land to foreign companies that provided capital for its development.
For example it (Chinese government) gave land to foreigners to build factories.

“Zimbabwe can choose any city so that we make it into a model city. They can give us this city to modernise and we will return it back to Zimbabwe after, say four years, as a modern city. When I was in town on a tour with entrepreneurs today (Thursday), we realised that many families need houses. We can build simple and comfortable houses for
the people of Zimbabwe,” he said.

China has the biggest contingent at this year’s edition of the ZITF with 200 participants from 32 companies and it overtook South Africa as the biggest foreign exhibitor.

There are 468 direct exhibitors, 37 of which are foreign including Brazil, which are participating for the first time, Namibia, Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Indonesia, Iran, Pakistan, Italy, Poland and Germany, according to the organisers of the exhibition.

Zambian president Michael Sata is set to officially open the ZITF Friday afternoon.