Xi plans to travel to South Africa on Wednesday, where he will meet President Jacob Zuma and later co-chair the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation summit in Johannesburg.
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“President Xi Jinping will likely be seeking new markets for Chinese manufactured goods, access to cheaper labour and production capacity, and securing precious metals, such as Zimbabwe’s gold, diamonds and other minerals that are in consumer manufacturing”, added Hill.
Xi arrived in Harare Tuesday mid-morning to a 21 gun salute and pomp and fanfare, as Zimbabweans and Chinese lined up the streets to greet Zimbabwe’s most high profile visitor in at least 20 years.
Xi will be the most prominent global leader to visit Zimbabwe for many years as veteran President Robert Mugabe, 91, is widely shunned by Western powers. “There is a lot of interest in all sectors of the economy from Chinese investors”, Chinamasa said at Harare airport.
In practice, China has been providing great assistance for the African countries over the past 60 years, especially the sub-Saharan African countries, which are facing most difficulties in health, poverty-relief and social stability.
China past year invested $238 million in Zimbabwe, becoming its first economic partner.
Xi’s visit to South Africa comes a day after meeting Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe in Harare, where the two countries inked deals worth more than $4 billion, according to Zimbabwean newspapers. There, he will attend a forum on cooperation between Africa and China, whose investment on the continent has soared in the past decade.
But China’s direct investment in Africa has fallen roughly 40 percent in the first half of 2015 to $1.19 billion, China’s commerce ministry said on November 17. Xi, whose presence was honoured with a military flypast, then inspected a guard of honour.
Liu said in a commentary published by a local daily that the upcoming China-Africa summit will be a watershed moment for both allies as they chart a new cooperation agenda that is broad and mutually beneficial.
Chinamasa said four agreements on electricity generation, including the expansion of Hwange would be signed, as well as deals on road construction and infrastructure development.
SinoHydro is also now working on the $500 million Kariba South expansion project, which is expected to bring an extra 300MW to the national grid by 2018.
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“There are also three other power projects which are going to be funded by the Chinese and these are private sector driven”. U.S. authorities have said they are not considering lifting the sanction on Zimbabwe till the administration spells out reforms. Before any development takes place, investors have to carry out intensive environmental impact assessments to ensure that they do not adversely affect the ecology of the region which is also home to the country’s biggest game reserve-Hwange National Park. President Xi who was accompanied by Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Mumbengegwi, was welcomed by Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services Minister Supa Mandiwanzira and Deputy Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industry Cde Anastacia Ndlovu.
