The European Union (EU) to review policy on Zimbawe

The European Union (EU) says it stands ready to review its policies on Zimbabwe at any moment, taking into account the progress achieved in the country.

In a statement issued at the end of the 359^th EU Council meeting held in Brussels, Belgium on Monday as part of the annual review of the sanctions imposed on some Zimbabwean companies, individuals and other entities since 2002 at the height of the land reform programme in Zimbabwe, the continental body said the new political dispensation in Zimbabwe creates high expectations among Zimbabweans, adding that it is ready to engage constructively through a structured dialogue, with political players  across the spectrum and with civil society on the basis of a mutual commitment to shared values focused on human rights, democratic principles and rule of law.

The European bloc said it will do so in coordination with African and international partners.

The EU says the forthcoming elections will be an essential step and that it welcomes the commitment of the Zimbabwean government to hold elections in line with the constitution and underlines the importance that the conditions are in place to allow those elections to be peaceful, inclusive, credible and transparent.

The bloc also expects to be invited to observe the elections.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa has called for peaceful, free, fair and credible elections to be held in a few months time.

On the economic front, the EU welcomed the intention of the Zimbabwean government to deliver economic reforms to support job creation, growth sustainable and long term development.

The continental body also promised to support the Zimbabwean government in establishing as soon as possible a constructive reengagement with international financial institutions based on a clear and time bound economic and political reform programmes.

In a telephone interview from his base in Brussels, Zimbabwean Ambassador to the EU,

Mr Tadeous Chifamba said the EU’s decisions are a positive development building on the positive move when some sanctions were removed following the successful holding of elections in 2013.

Ambassador Chifamba said the embassy has been inundated with requests for business inquiry meetings by individual European countries and business people, following the change of leadership in Zimbabwe.