JOHANNESBURG, Aug. 21– South Africa and Zimbabwe should work together to build infrastructure and tackle cross-border crime and border management, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Friday.
Addressing the fourth session of the South Africa-Zimbabwe Bi-National Commission (BNC) in Johannesburg, Ramaphosa said development finance institutions, including the Development Bank of Southern Africa and the Industrial Development Corporation, are ready to invest in infrastructure projects in both countries to facilitate trade.
“We should be working together to build the bridges, roads, dams, airports, health facilities, and schools that will drive our economies into the future. Working together, we must convert our abundant mineral resources into jobs, opportunity, and prosperity for our people,” said Ramaphosa.
He said infrastructure projects should connect factories and farms to markets, and invited Zimbabwe to cooperate with South Africa on mineral exploration and beneficiation.
Ramaphosa called for closer cooperation in facilitating the movement of goods and people, saying the two countries should modernize border facilities and systems and strengthen joint efforts to combat cross-border crime.
Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa said the two countries should continue cooperation in mining, agriculture, trade, health care, tourism, and education.
He called for continued cooperation at the one-stop border post and said Zimbabwe was ready to remove tariff and non-tariff barriers to boost bilateral trade.
Established in 2015, the BNC serves as the central mechanism for managing and advancing relations between South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Over the past decade, more than 33 agreements and memoranda of understanding have been concluded between the two countries across various fields. (Namibia Daily News / Xinhua)
