Russia-Zimbabwe Commission To Address Ties In Mining, Agriculture - Foreign Minister

Muhammad Irfan Published August 07, 2019 | 11:30 AM

The second meeting of the Russia-Zimbabwe intergovernmental commission, which is taking place in Moscow on Wednesday, will focus on implementing existing agreements and expanding cooperation between the two countries in mining, agriculture, tourism and other sectors, Sibusiso Moyo, Zimbabwe's minister of foreign affairs and international trade, told Sputnik

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 07th August, 2019) The second meeting of the Russia-Zimbabwe intergovernmental commission, which is taking place in Moscow on Wednesday, will focus on implementing existing agreements and expanding cooperation between the two countries in mining, agriculture, tourism and other sectors, Sibusiso Moyo, Zimbabwe's minister of foreign affairs and international trade, told Sputnik.

"The preoccupation of the current intergovernmental commission is primarily to ensure that we implement all the agreements, which were signed before, during the first intergovernmental commission. Secondly, we are looking at further concretizing cooperation in different areas ranging from mining, the agricultural sector, the tourism sector," Moyo said.

The minister also noted that Zimbabwe welcomed Russian tourists, noting that they were "good spenders."

He added that the issue of launching direct flights between Russia and Zimbabwe would also be raised at the meeting, expressing hope that the sides would be able to finalize a memorandum of understanding on the issue.

According to the minister, then the two countries would be able to sign a bilateral air service agreement that would pave the way for further talks on direct flights between the two countries.

"We are also looking at the industrialization process in Zimbabwe, which, we think, requires retooling, it requires technology, it requires all the various skills, which Russia actually has," Moyo said, adding that his country was interested in cooperating in education, law and order and innovation sectors.

Moyo's statement comes ahead of the first ever Russia-Africa summit which will take place in the Russian resort city of Sochi in October.