Zimbabwe government officials met with the European Union (EU) delegation in a political dialogue that also included economic developments, and trade and investment.
Zimbabwe and the EU have frosty relations with the western countries imposing sanctions on the Southern African nation over human rights and democracy issues.
A joint press statement on the dialogue meeting says the Zimbabwean side briefed on progress in the government’s political, economic, electoral and legislative reform agenda and highlighted the financial challenges faced in implementing such reforms.
The Zimbabwean side further applauded the efforts by the Zimbabwean Anti-Corruption Commission in fighting corruption.
“The EU noted the existing economic and political reform challenges and expressed its wish to support Zimbabwe’s political and economic reform agenda, including the fight against corruption,” the statement reads.
“The two sides agreed on the importance of reforms and their benefit to the Zimbabwean people.”
The meeting also welcomed the agreement by the EU and the five Eastern and the Southern African States to launch negotiations to deepen the scope of the interim Economic Partnership Agreement beyond trade in goods towards a more comprehensive partnership.
Besides political and economic issues, the dialogue also ventured into climate change issues.
The press statement says yesterday’s meeting “welcomed the agreement by the EU and the five Eastern and Southern African states to launch negotiations to deepen the scope of the interim Economic Partnership Agreement beyond trade in goods towards a more comprehensive partnership.”
