Disdained By The West & China, Zimbabwe Courts The United Arab Emirates
The Zimbabwe government has reportedly approached the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) in hopes of selling a 25% stake in the National Oil Infrastructure Company of Zimbabwe (NOIC).
According to Bloomberg, NOIC owns storage depots at the port of Beira in neighbouring Mozambique as well as five locations in Zimbabwe, gas stations and the pipeline that brings oil products from Beira to Mutare for companies including Puma Energy BV, in eastern Zimbabwe.
The economy is in a free-fall following targeted sanctions by the United States States of America (USA) and “all-weather friend”, China’s nonchalance.
Jee-A van der Linde, an economic analyst at NKC African Economics in Paarl, South Africa said Zimbabwe desperately needs investment.
They need investment desperately. It’s been snowballing. I don’t know where it’s going to end up. I don’t know how that would be appealing for the U.A.E.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa last year visited Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus, selling his “Zimbabwe is Open for Business” mantra.
Belarus has expressed interest in Zimbabwe’s agriculture sector and exported hundreds of second-hand buses that are now plying the streets of Harare.
Meanwhile, the USA has hardened its stance towards Harare and demanded comprehensive political and economic reforms while the Chinese foreign minister’s visit in January ended with only pledges of further infrastructural projects being carried out by China with no mention of a financial bailout.
