PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa hopes to meet British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, pictured, to discuss bilateral issues affecting the two nations at this week’s global climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland.

Speaking during the Zanu PF annual conference in Bindura yesterday, Mnangagwa also revealed that he would be leaving for the United Kingdom (UK) today.

“I will travel to Glasgow in the United Kingdom after over two decades have passed without Zimbabwe leadership going to the UK.

“I have been invited by Boris Johnson and he has indicated that he might meet me in Glasgow one-on-one, as well as other leaders like the prime minister of India.

“We will be meeting them on Monday and Tuesday,” Mnangagwa said amid ululation from Zanu PF delegates.

“We as government, we as Zanu PF, have been vindicated by the report released by the United Nations special rapporteur.

“We should congratulate ourselves that we have never been wrong and we shall continue always being right.

“And those who have been found outside the law should take reckon with their position,” Mnangagwa added.

His trip to the UK is the first by a sitting Zimbabwean leader in two decades.

It thus represents a significant opportunity for Harare to mend its lukewarm relationship with its former colonial master and other Western powers.

The Daily News On Sunday’s sister paper, the Daily News, recently reported that as Mnangagwa was preparing to visit the UK for the crucial global summit, Whitehall had said that it was working to increase trade between Britain and Zimbabwe despite the uneasy relations between London and Harare.

In an assessment of Zimbabwe’s political and economic environment, the UK said while Harare still had a long way to go to get things right since the end of the ruinous rule of the late president Robert Mugabe, it had noticed some improvements in some areas in the country.

This comes after the United States of America (USA) also recently extended a similar olive branch to Harare, after it encouraged its companies to invest in Zimbabwe — while blaming Mugabe squarely for being the author of the country’s decades-long political and economic crises.

“It should be noted that … targeted sanctions … (are) not intended to deter trade and investment with Zimbabwe.

“Indeed, the UK continues to work with Zimbabwe to increase bilateral trade, with the UK-ESA Economic Partnership Agreement coming into force on 1st January 2021,” the UK said.

The UK-ESA Economic Partnership Agreement refers to trade agreements between Britain and East and Southern African states — which aim to promote increased trade and investment between London and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Britain also said it had noted the efforts by Zimbabwe to fulfil some of the promises that were made by Mnangagwa when he replaced Mugabe in November 2017.

“The current administration’s relaxation of indigenisation requirements, and fledgling attempts to compensate dispossessed farmers is a promising step, but occasional and localised instances of land invasions continue to damage the credibility of property rights in Zimbabwe,” it said.