Mugabe decries reliance on foreign funding as PM seeks aid in Europe and US

This comes a day after Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai left for Europe and the United States to try to drum up financial aid for a unity government he formed with rival President Mugabe.

On Sunday, President Mugabe said member states must put money into the Comesa Fund to help cut dependence on foreign assistance. Let us contribute our own resources to the fund which can can enable us to finance infrastructural development without any strings attached, he said.

Meanwhile, Tsvangirai is expected to visit the Netherlands, Britain, France, Sweden and Brussels, seat of the 27-nation European Union, to try to help Zimbabwes battered economy. He is also set to meet US President Barack Obama during a four-day trip to Washington.

Mugabe takes over the leadership of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) as the two-day summit prepares to launch a customs union for its 19 member states stretching from Swaziland in the south to Egypt in the north.

President Mugabe urged business leaders to explore investment opportunities in the region. There is need for our organisation to work to speed up the implementation of our programme towards greater development and integration, he said.

Comesa is the largest trading block on the continent. Under the free customs union deal, the 19 member countries will impose the same tariffs on goods from outside the region.

Reuters