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Zimbabwe Open for Business, says President Mnangagwa

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Zimbabwe

President Mnangagwa spoke on Thursday at a special event on the margins of the Africa Investment Forum Market Days 2022 in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast, November 4, 2022/APO Group/ — 

“Private sector opportunities in Zimbabwe are limitless” – Zimbabwe President Dr. Emerson Mnangagwa; Agriculture will power our way to achieving vision 2030” – Anxious Masuka.

Zimbabwean President Dr. Emerson Mnangagwa has called on investors to realize the massive investment opportunities in Zimbabwe and shun negative perceptions of risk.

Zimbabwe, self-sufficient in food production and a major exporter of wheat, tobacco, and corn to the 14-member Southern African Development Community, to other African countries and the wider world before 2000, saw its exports plummet. Before 2000, farming accounted for 40% of all Zimbabwe’s exports. In 2010 though, it dropped to 2%.

President Mnangagwa spoke on Thursday at a special event on the margins of the Africa Investment Forum Market Days 2022 in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. The event dwelt on the broad range of investment opportunities in Zimbabwe. Several cabinet ministers accompanied the president, namely Foreign Affairs Minister Frederick Shava, Finance and Economic Development Minister Mthuli Mcube, Agriculture Minister Anxious Masuka and Industry and Commerce Minister Sekai Nzenza.

“The focus is to persuade global capital assembled in this city to realize that there are opportunities for investment in Zimbabwe,” President Mnangagwa said.

The African Development Bank and its seven partners set up the Africa Investment Forum—Africa’s premier investment platform—to attract investment and capital to Africa. The forum’s Market Days 2022 which runs from the 2nd to 4th of November, feature boardroom sessions that promote flagship sectors where Africa has a comparative advantage. Examples are women-led businesses, music, film, fashion, textiles, and sports.

President Mnangagwa said African Development Bank President Dr. Adesina invited him to the forum when Adesina visited Zimbabwe earlier this year.  Adesina agreed to champion Zimbabwe’s debt clearance strategy. Zimbabwe has been hurt by sanctions imposed by the European Union and other Western countries.

“Our mission here is to explain ourselves, assure investors that Zimbabwe is a safe investment destination,” President Mnangagwa said.

Adesina said Zimbabwe could count on the African Development Bank’s strong support. He confirmed the bank’s approval of a $4 million grant to support the development of a secretariat to move the country’s debt arrears clearance issue forward.

“I know the story of Zimbabwe, the opportunities and potential of Zimbabwe,” Adesina said. “I think Zimbabwe is not as risky as you think…Private sector opportunities are limitless.”

Adesina outlined the country’s many potential areas for investment, including steel, agriculture and information technology. He said the bank was lending support in these and other sectors.

Our mission here is to explain ourselves, assure investors that Zimbabwe is a safe investment destination

The African Development Bank also made a grant to Zimbabwe during the Covid-19 pandemic, stepping in where other institutions had not.

“Zimbabwe is strongly committed… Zimbabwe will again be the breadbasket of Africa. I will swim right beside you,” he said.

President Mnangagwa’s ministers also spoke bullishly about Zimbabwe’s investment prospects.

Ncube said the Zimbabwe Investment and Development agency (ZIDA) was the country’s one-stop shop for potential investors. “With ZIDA, your investment is safe…we have the capacity…we are waiting for you,” the finance minister said.

Nzenza said the country was focusing especially on mining, agriculture, tourism and manufacturing, such as producing cotton, locally and lithium batteries.

“There’s no doubt that sanctions hurt, but Zimbabwe is open for business. The key words are value addition…we have been exporting raw materials we must manufacture,” Nzenza said.

Masuka said in his opinion, the biggest opportunity was the land reform program that Zimbabwe had embarked on. The government has put agriculture at the top of its agenda. “We want to develop agriculture…there are massive opportunities. Agriculture will power our way to achieving vision 2030,” Masuka said.

Private sector panelists at Thursday’s event were invited to offer advice to potential investors in Zimbabwe. They included Marjorie Mayida, managing director of Zimbabwe’s leading insurance company, Old Mutual; George Manyere, managing director of Brainworks a Zimbabwean company listed on the Johannesburg and London stock exchanges; Kalpesh Patel, managing director of SteelMakers Group of companies; and Peggy Mapondera, an investment principal at Masawara PLC, a pan-African diversified investment holding group.

George Manyere of Brainworks Ltd said Zimbabwe’s economic performance against neighboring countries like Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique—which do not have sanctions and enjoy support from the international lending community—was proof of the nation’s capacity to perform despite perceptions of risk, and the country’s biggest selling point.

Tshepidi Moremong, Chief Operating Officer of Africa50 noted the progress and opportunities in transport, logistics, infrastructure.  She said that following a mission to Harare last month, Africa50 would be signing a memorandum of understanding, specifically on asset recycling.

Kapesh Pattel of SteelMakers Group advised that getting out in front of investors would help to demystify negative and misleading perceptions of Zimbabwe.

For the first time since the Africa Investment Forum began in 2018, three promising business transactions from Zimbabwe made it through to boardroom discussions during the Africa Investment Forum Market Days.

African Development Bank senior officials at the special side event included Director General for the Southern Africa region Leila Mokaddem, Zimbabwe Country Manager Moono Mupotola; and Kevin Urama, Vice President and Acting Chief Economist and Vice President for Economic Governance and Knowledge Management.

The Africa Investment Forum platform is an initiative of the African Development Bank and seven other development institutions: Africa 50; the Africa Finance Corporation; the African Export-Import Bank; the Development Bank of Southern Africa; the Trade and Development Bank; the European Investment Bank; and the Islamic Development Bank.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Development Bank Group (AfDB).

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Energy

Building a Knowledge Hub for China-ASEAN Energy Cooperation

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September 22, 2026

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NANNING, CHINA – Media OutReach Newswire – 21 September 2026 – During the 23rd China-ASEAN Expo and the China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit, China Southern Power Grid showcased a range of innovations designed to support energy cooperation between China and ASEAN. These included the DaWatt – Lao Language Large Language Model (LLM) for the Energy and Power Sector V2.0 and the Flexible Grayscale Intelligent Monitoring & Analysis Platform for power system cybersecurity, highlighting expanding opportunities for cooperation in digitalization, intelligent technologies and green energy.

The Lao-language LLM has been deployed at Electricité du Laos Transmission Company Limited (EDL-T), where it can automatically analyze thousands of inspection images within a short period of time. After its algorithms were optimized for Laos’ mountainous and rainforest terrain, the model completed intelligent inspection analysis for four transmission lines, processing 26,000 drone inspection images and identifying more than 3,600 equipment defects.

 




 
 

Liu Ying, general manager of the Digitalization Department at Guangxi Power Grid Co., Ltd., said the company has been building multilingual professional corpora for the power sector, covering ASEAN countries including Laos, Vietnam and Malaysia. Drawing on the capabilities of the DaWatt foundation model, the company is developing energy and power models tailored to ASEAN languages and real-world power industry applications.

Talent development is another focus of the cooperation. The China-ASEAN Institute of Energy, jointly established by Guangxi Power Grid Co., Ltd. and Guangxi University, is exploring an industry-university training model with a strong emphasis on practical experience. So far, two cohorts totaling 53 students from ASEAN countries have enrolled.

Cooperation is also evolving from one-way training toward joint innovation. Guangxi Power Grid Co., Ltd. and the Royal Academy of Cambodia have jointly established a laboratory for artificial intelligence and safety equipment, while the company has also launched peer-to-peer exchanges with Electricité du Laos on improving power supply reliability.

To address language barriers in cross-border technical exchanges, Guangxi Power Grid Co., Ltd. has developed an AI-powered translation platform backed by a specialized database containing terminology for more than 1,800 types of power equipment. The platform supports accurate translation between Chinese and English, Chinese and Lao, and Chinese and Vietnamese.

At a recent training program for Chinese and overseas engineers, the system supported one-click generation of bilingual course materials and real-time speech translation, helping participants navigate highly specialized power-sector terminology.

To support regular international exchanges, Guangxi Power Grid Co., Ltd. has also established an international talent pool covering management, technical and skilled personnel. It has developed 24 hours of courses on international affairs as well as 20 short-form video courses.

“This year, we will also explore joint postgraduate programs with universities in ASEAN countries,” said Sun Xiaohua, deputy director of the Human Resources Department at Guangxi Power Grid Co., Ltd.

Looking ahead, Guangxi Power Grid Co., Ltd. plans to further advance a development model featuring “R&D in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong, integration in Guangxi, and application in ASEAN.” The company will continue expanding its multilingual power-sector corpora and explore a “Token Goes Global” model for power-sector AI, with computing resources and models based in Guangxi while knowledge services are delivered overseas. The effort is aimed at creating new forms of China-ASEAN energy cooperation and supporting the green development of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0.
 




 

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Events

24th Sichuan Guangwu Mountain International Red Leaf Festival to Showcase Asia’s Spectacular Autumn Colors

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September 22, 2026

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BAZHONG, CHINA – Media OutReach Newswire – 21 September 2026 – The 24th Sichuan Guangwu Mountain International Red Leaf Festival will run from October 1 to November 18 at the Guangwu Mountain Tourism Area in Bazhong, Sichuan Province, China.

Located in southwest China, Guangwu Mountain boasts a forest coverage rate of 97%, earning its reputation as a “natural oxygen bar.” Each autumn, 680 square kilometers of mountain forests burst into a dazzling palette. Over 40 tree species, including Fagus pashanica, maples and lindens, weave the mountains into a stunning autumn landscape.

Known as “Asia’s longest natural red carpet,” the Mountain has become a top autumn destination for backpackers, photographers and travelers seeking immersive cultural and nature experiences, and is widely recognized as one of western China’s signature autumn attractions.

 




 
 

The tourism area caters to international visitors who prefer slower-paced, in-depth, off-the-beaten-path travel. The new Yanziling Loop Boardwalk, launched in May 2026, winds along mountain cliffs, with a sea of clouds rolling beneath visitors’ feet and brilliant foliage unfolding alongside the trail, creating the feeling of “stepping into a painting.”

Guangwu Mountain offers a wealth of outdoor attractions. Highlights include the 1,888-meter Red Leaf Coaster and a glass water slide certified by Guinness World Record, combining thrilling experiences with stunning natural scenery.

The large-scale immersive production “New Dream of Guangwu Mountain” integrates cutting-edge light and visual technology with Bashan folklore and traditions, transforming the forest into an atmospheric nighttime experience. Visitors can also enjoy welcome performances and interactive robot activities, which offer more ways to discover the mountain’s late-autumn charm.

A major highlight of this year’s festival is the newly completed Micang Avenue. Stretching 85 kilometers, the route connects seven core scenic spots, including Guangwu Mountain, Micang Mountain, and Nuoshui River, reducing a four-hour drive to just one hour. Lined with continuous stretches of colorful forest and layered peaks, the avenue brings brand-new travel experiences for autumn foliage enthusiasts.

The festival will also feature cultural, sports and international exchange activities, including the third season of the “Sending You a Red Leaf” campaign, the China Micang Avenue International Road Cycling Race, and the “World Red Leaf Landmark” global collection campaign.

In addition, 31 scenic attractions and 18 museums and cultural venues across Bazhong will provide special ticket offers and visitor benefits during the festival.

Across mountains and seas, Guangwu Mountain invites visitors from around the world to witness one of China’s most vibrant red-and-gold autumn displays.
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
 
 




 

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Business

DHL Invests in Greater Middle East-Africa Connectivity with New Aviation Lane

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5 hours ago

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September 22, 2026

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The investment also reflects shifting global supply chains, as companies diversify sourcing, manufacturing and customer markets beyond traditional corridors

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, September 21, 2026/APO Group/ —
  • New weekly B767/F Bahrain-Johannesburg service strengthens Sub-Saharan Africa connectivity and supports growing trade flows between Africa, the Gulf and global markets

DHL Express (www.DHL.com) has marked an important milestone in its regional aviation network with the successful operation of the first direct DHL flight between Bahrain and South Africa.

The inaugural flight arrived at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, opening a new weekly aviation lane operated by a DHL Express B767/F freighter. The route reinforces DHL’s continued investment in strengthening Sub-Saharan Africa network connectivity, expanding heavier-weight capability, improving flexibility and supporting growing trade flows between the Middle East and Africa.

 




  

As trade between Africa and the Middle East develops, businesses need resilient, well-connected logistics networks. The new service provides greater inbound and outbound capacity for South Africa and neighbouring countries through the DHL Johannesburg Hub, one of the company’s key gateways on the continent.

 

The investment also reflects shifting global supply chains, as companies diversify sourcing, manufacturing and customer markets beyond traditional corridors. Bahrain’s position as a gateway between Africa, the Gulf and Asia make it an important link for businesses seeking faster access to international markets.

 

Every new connection we introduce is designed with our customers in mind

“Every new connection we introduce is designed with our customers in mind. As global trade routes diversify and economic ties between Africa and the Middle East continue to strengthen, we are seeing powerful geographical tailwinds creating new opportunities for businesses. Demand is growing across sectors such as healthcare, technology, manufacturing and cross-border e-commerce, all of which rely on fast, reliable international logistics,” said Anthony Beckley, Vice President of Operations and Aviation for DHL Express Sub-Saharan Africa.

 

“While this first direct DHL flight between Bahrain and South Africa is a significant network milestone, its real value lies in the opportunities it creates for customers.”

 

 

South Africa is one of DHL’s Geographic Tailwinds markets, reflecting its growing role in global trade flows and its potential to drive future trade growth. And Johannesburg remains a critical gateway in DHL’s SSA network, linking South Africa and neighbouring markets to global opportunities through Bahrain and the wider DHL aviation network. Through continued investment in routes, aircraft capacity and hub connectivity, DHL is supporting customers across this dynamic lane.

 

“DHL Express is the only logistics provider operating a dedicated intra-regional air fleet across the Middle East, connecting customers through Bahrain with major global gateways including Hong Kong, Leipzig and Cincinnati,” said Richard Gale, Vice President of Aviation, DHL Express MENA.

 

“Bahrain’s position at the crossroads of Africa and the Middle East makes it an ideal hub for customers seeking faster, more reliable access across these growing trade corridors. We are pleased to add this direct Johannesburg connection as economic ties between Africa and the Gulf deepen.”

 

DHL remains committed to helping customers seize opportunities created by changing trade patterns and expanding economic relationships.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of DHL Express.

 

 




 

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