Zim 'pivotal' to Africa

2005-01-19 21:26

Harare - Iranian President Mohammad Khatami on Wednesday said Zimbabwe could play a "pivotal" role in uplifting Africa.

Khatami, who held talks with President Robert Mugabe and visited tourist resorts and met with local businessmen, said post-colonial Zimbabwe - which is in "control" of its land - could be a torchbearer.

He said Africa had to exploit its "huge resources" if it was "to emerge as a power on the international stage" and transform "from an under-developed and underprivileged continent into a developed continent.

"In this regard Zimbabwe can play a pivotal role and present a very good example," he said.

"Today Zimbabwe belongs to the people of Zimbabwe, they have and control their own resources of land, they enjoy their sovereignty and independence and they have everything for further... advancement in a lot of fields," Khatami said.

Government ministers, and the governors of the two countries' central banks and private sector officials signed 10 trade agreements before Khatami ended his visit to leave for Uganda.

Mugabe for his part thanked the Iranian leader, saying his visit had been fruitful.

"The visit has not just done justice in regard to our policy of looking east, but it has done justice in the field of co-operation" between the two nations, he said.

Iran is one of the countries Mugabe has been warming up to as part of the "Look East" policy, partly forced by Zimbabwe's isolation from the West over controversial land reforms and allegedly fraud-marred elections in 2000 and 2002.

Khatami visited Zimbabwe on the penultimate leg of his seven-nation tour of Africa. His last stop is Uganda.

- AFP