Zimbabwe and Russia have signed multi-billion dollar cooperation agreements, the Zimbabwean information minister, Monica Mutsvangwa, said on August 20.
New deals concern key sectors such as energy, mining, tourism, health, agriculture, and media. Six of the agreements target the mutual protection of classified information, cooperation in the field of geological exploration and mineral resource management; cooperation in platinum group metals, cooperation in the field of diamond exploration and mining and cooperation in the field of energy.
A number of Russian companies will also supply civilian passenger and training aircraft, KAMAZ trucks of different ranges, rail freight wagons, agricultural and power engineering equipment and waste-to-energy plants to the African country.
While the programs seek to lift Zimbabwe out of the current economic crisis, they come at a time Russia plans to reinforce its footprint in Africa to withstand competition from China and the USA.
“A number of agreements were discussed and they were concluded, but they have been reserved for signature in October at the upcoming Africa-Russia summit in Russia,” said Sibusiso Moyo, the Zimbabwean Foreign Affairs Minister.
