Andile Tshuma
THE National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) says it is angling to lure more investment at this year’s edition of the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF).
The railway company has been on an investment deal clinching drive, with two major deals having been sealed so far this year between firms from the Democratic Republic of Congo as well as Dubai.
NRZ acting public relations manager Martin Banda told the Daily News yesterday that the railway company was looking to showcase its new and innovative services as well as position itself for investment opportunities.
“We are working on our plans for the engagements during our ZITF exhibition week and our parent ministry has come up with a theme which is “Strengthening Value Chains for Economic Development”.
“We are therefore working to ensure that all our work is relevant to this theme, just as we are also working on our own theme as the NRZ. We want to maintain our relevance and cast ourselves on the local, regional and international markets,” Banda said.
This year’s edition of the ZITF runs from April 26-30 under the theme, “Rethink, Reimagine, Reinvent Value Chains for Economic Development.”
Banda however, noted that the railway company was working on rebuilding customer and investor confidence in both freight and passenger service while also working towards achieving goals in the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1).
“We are rebuilding customer confidence, we will therefore use the ZITF week to engage with our old customers and also create networks to establish new relations and gain more business. We recently signed a deal with D.P world from Dubai, and we are hoping that this year’s exhibition will award us the opportunity to engage with more players in the industry and do business,” he said.
Banda added that the Covid-19 pandemic had negatively affected the operations of the railway company, with the cancelling of the 2020 international exhibition derailing the railway company’s plans of engaging with the international community.