by Own Correspondent
HARARE – Zimbabwe and South Africa are set to sign a Bilateral Investment Protection Agreement (BIPA) later this month, a Cabinet minister said at the launch of the country's six-year economic blue print on Monday.
"The issue of signing BIPAs is one of the things to be done," Economic Planning Minister Elton Mangoma said at the launch of the country's medium term economic blueprint for the period 2010-2015.
"The BIPA between Zimbabwe and South Africa will be signed on November 27," he said without revealing the venue for the inking of the long stalled agreement.
Signing of the agreement between the countries that are each other's biggest trading partner on the continent in addition to being strong political allies has on several occasions been postponed on the eleventh hour, apparently after Harare objected to a clause in the accord referring to land investments.
The Economic Planning Minister also ruled out the return of the local currency that was shelved early this year in preference of a basket of foreign currencies that include the United States dollar, South African rand, British Pound and Botswana pula.
"It must be clear that the way we are planning our economy is to have a strong currency which is not the Zimbabwe dollar. The Zimbabwe dollar will bring its own problems and we don't want those problems," he said.
Mangoma said the major focus of the 2010 to 2015 economic blueprint that replaces the Short Term Economic Recovery Programme (STERP) that was launched in March is to bring economic growth as well to reduce poverty.
He added that the country needed to improve its investment climate to attract investors.
"We want investors everywhere to feel secure, we believe from our side the document is good and we believe they (South Africans) feel the same," he said without elaborating whether Zimbabwe had accepted the demand by the South Africans to have protection of land and related property rights included in the agreement.
He said he hopes to sign and implement bilateral trade agreements with other countries which will improve investor confidence and to raise money through auctioning mineral concessions and implement the "use it or lose it" on the mineral concessions.
President Robert Mugabe's chaotic and often violent programme to seize white-owned farm land for redistribution to landless blacks also saw several farms owned by foreigners and protected under bilateral trade agreements between Zimbabwe and other countries seized without compensation.
The seizure of private land has raised questions about Zimbabwe's commitment to uphold property rights as well as agreements entered with other countries.
