Egypt keen to contribute to development efforts in Zimbabwe, PM tells VP Chiwenga

CAIRO – 6 June 2022: Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli said Egypt is keen to contribute to the development efforts in Zimbabwe through the various Egyptian companies operating in Africa in the infrastructure projects field.

Madbouli made the remarks in a meeting with Zimbabwean Vice President and Minister of Health Constantino Chiwenga and his accompanying delegation on the first edition of Africa Health ExCon, which is being held in Egypt from 5 to 7 June.

During the meeting, Madbouli hailed Zimbabwe’s role in the African continent and the southern African region, expressing the Egyptian state’s keenness to build on and expand its historic relations with Zimbabwe.

The Egyptian premier referenced President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi’s remarks during the opening session of the medical conference on Sunday through which he urged enhancing cooperation with African countries and ensuring that the African brothers benefit from the Egyptian potentials in all fields.

Chiwenga praised Zimbabwe’s historic relations with Egypt, which was among the first countries to establish diplomatic relations with Harare after Zimbabwe’s independence on 18 April 1980.

Chiwenga also hailed Egypt’s continuous support to Zimbabwe including through the humanitarian aid that Egypt dispatched to Zimbabwe in May 2019.

 

The Zimbabwean vice president said his country is keen to develop the bilateral relations with Egypt in the various fields, on top of which is trade.

The vice president urged boosting trade exchange between the two countries, which currently stands at no more than $20 million annually and is relatively low compared to the special level of Egyptian-Zimbabwean relations.

Chiwenga said Zimbabwe also welcomes the Egyptian investments and that the two countries have recently agreed on establishing a pharmaceutical factory for an Egyptian company in Zimbabwe.

Egyptian Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research and Acting Minister of Health Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, and Mohamed Khalil, the Secretary General of the Egyptian Agency of Partnership for Development (EAPD).

The Egyptian and Zimbabwean sides have agreed on several files for cooperation in the field of health and medicine as well as on training Zimbabwean doctors in Egyptian hospitals, Abdel Ghaffar confirmed.

The two sides also agreed on dispatching Egyptian doctors and surgeons to train the Zimbabwean health service providers in the specialties of hematology, liver diseases, non-communicable diseases, and oncology.

This is in addition to providing training in the fields of ambulance and emergency medicine.