EU ambassador, Aldo Dell’Ariccia, recently led a delegation from the EU that took a four day tour of the region. He said they had managed to meet politicians, civic leaders and the business community and had learnt a lot about the problems affecting them.
“This visit enabled us to get a better perspective of Bulawayo and Matabeleland as a whole. We looked at the issue of deindustrialisation and the exodus of companies. The entrepreneurial spirit among the people here is really encouraging and an asset that can be exploited,” said Dell’Ariccia.
He said with proper financial injection, the Small and Medium Scale Enterprises had the capacity to improve the city’s economy.
“Capacity can be revitalised because people from the region are really hard working and focused. If the region gets proper financial help and policies are set up to manage these resources, Bulawayo could become the hub of the entire Southern African region.
“The tourism and mining sector have the capacity to revive this economy. We plan to develop a number of regionally-based projects in these areas,” he said.
The ambassador encouraged the business sector to seriously consider entering into Private Public Partnerships in order to fast track developmental issues in the region.
“As the European Union, I believe we have a mandate to fund projects from this region,” said Dell’Ariccia.
Post published in: News