Mugabe's change in tone suggested he may be more willing to cooperate with Western powers crucial to Zimbabwe's efforts to secure billions of dollars in aid and foreign investment.
The visit by European Union Managing Director for Africa, Nick Westcott is the second since the EU began targeted sanctions in 2002 against members of Mugabe's government for human rights violations. It follows hard on the heels of another visit by a top level delegation in 2009 headed by EU Aid and Development Commissioner Karel De Gucht and the Swedish EU presidency.
Westcott also met Mugabe's long-time foe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his Minister of Finance Tendai Biti, to discuss about the situation in the country and the way forward to consolidate the democratic and economic progress of Zimbabwe.
Tsvangirai, widely respected in Western circles for standing up to Mugabe, said his discussion with the EU focused on reforms and economic co-operation.
"We discussed … issues around the constitutional reforms and other reforms, that's what the EU is legitimately concerned about,"
Tsvangirai said after meeting.
"We also raised the issue of economic co-operation."
Westcortt also discussed re-engagement in a meeting with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, in particular the preparation of the next Ministerial Political Dialogue.
A meeting with Minister of Mines and Mining Development, Obert Mpofu, enabled a discussion of how consensus could be reached on the export of diamonds produced in the Marange area which are compliant with the Kimberley Process (KP). Westcott stressed the importance of maintaining the KP as a guarantee of a transparent and reliable framework for the international trade of diamonds.
In his two days in Harare, Westcott held meetings with representatives of the civil society and of the business community and with the heads of the multilateral organisations present in Harare, in which he was briefed about the views and expectations of these groups. He informed about the EU priorities in respect of the cooperation with Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe says it needs $10 billion in foreign reconstruction aid.
Western nations are reluctant to release cash without further political and economic reform promised as part of the power-sharing deal, called the Global Political Agreement (GPA).
Tsvangirai added that the political agreement also came up for discussion. "We said that there are issues with the political agreement, regarding implementation," he said.
"However, there has been progress, but we are disappointed that the pace of implementation has been slow."
The GPA has been beset with problems as the parties accuse each other of not fully implementing the agreement, which Zimbabweans hoped would end daily hardships. Mugabe said after Saturday's talks that the deal was being implemented.
"It would be fair to say that if the people of Zimbabwe and the parties here achieve full implementation of the (coalition deal) and there are elections held that are free, fair, transparent, peaceful, then I can see no reason why sanctions should continue," Westcott said.
The EU remains the largest single donor to Zimbabwe, having provided over $1billion in humanitarian aid since 2002, despite the targeted sanctions.
To date, 203 people and 40 companies linked to the Mugabe government face travel and some financial restrictions within the 27-nation bloc.
Post published in: News