A number of companies have joined the government in the preparations for the global exhibition, the Expo 2020 which is set to be held in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates from 1 October 2021 to 31 March 2022. This was disclosed by the Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Monica Mutsvangwa during a post-Cabinet briefing today.
The partnership is a result of the government’s mobilisation for the participation of private companies in the activities at the Zimbabwe Pavilion, which is the country’s stand, during the event.
“Mobilisation and engagement of the private sector continue, with a number of companies having already contributed towards the Zimbabwe Pavilion Retail Store namely Tanganda Tea Company, Patrick Mavros, Adam Bede, Cairns Foods, Mr Sauce and Copper Ware, while Schweppes (Zimbabwe) and National Foods pledged to contribute perishable products,” Mutsvangwa said.
The government also intends to use its participation in the world exhibition to push its investment drive. To this end, the country’s export promotion body, Zimtrade, and the Zimbabwe investment Development Authority (ZIDA) are working with some business membership organisations to prepare to sell Zimbabwe’s investment opportunities to the world during the exhibition.
“Zimtrade is working with ZIDA, (the) Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) and (the) Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) in coming up with information on trade and investment opportunities in Zimbabwe, project proposals from companies as well a prospectus which will be displayed in the Zimbabwe Pavilion,” said Mutsvangwa.
Mutsvangwa highlighted that the Ministry of Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry had mobilized 21 tourism operators to participate in the exhibition. She indicated that a number of tourism videos from the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, and Ngamo Safaris, among other tourism operators, would be shown during the Expo.
The minister encouraged business entities to propose events that could be included in the show’s thematic calendar of events. She said that businesses were expected to come up with events that explore solutions to fundamental global issues for showcasing during the world expo.
Mutsvangwa said that the construction of the Zimbabwe Pavilion was complete while most of the ongoing work included the finalisation of the digital equipment, zone labelling, and the installation of the Zimbabwe theme and country name among others.
The Expo 2020 is a world exhibition which is held for six months every five years. The event was supposed to run from the beginning of October last year to the end of March this year but was postponed for a year in May 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic but retained the name Expo 2020 for marketing purposes. The event is set to be the largest such event ever staged in the Arab world and is expected to bring together 24 million people from all over the world.