Zim ratifies trade pact with SA
21/05/2010
ZIMBABWE has finally ratified a trade pact agreed with South Africa which is aimed at the promotion and reciprocal protection of investments between the two countries.
Ratification of the Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (BIPPA) comes months after the deal was signed by economic planning minister Elton Mangoma and South Africa’s trade minister Rob Davies in Harare last November.
The economic planning ministry said the BIPPA came into effect on May 15 this year, but gave no reasons for the delay in its ratification.
“The purpose of the agreement is to stimulate individual business initiatives and increase prosperity in both countries through the creation of favourable conditions for investment by South African investors in
Zimbabwe and Zimbabwean investors in South Africa,” the ministry said in a statement.
Negotiations for the deal started in 2002 and were driven by both governments’ desire to signal to existing and potential investors that they would abide by international norms regarding property rights.
South African companies – by far the largest African investors in Zimbabwe’s economy – were particularly keen to have anxieties about the security of their investments allayed in the wake of the country’s land reforms.
“The agreement provides legal certainty for those engaged in investments in Zimbabwe and we are committed together with the Zimbabwe government that all the commitments that are in this agreement are honoured.
“This agreement will provide the legal security that is required by present and future investors in this country.” Economic Planning Minister Elton Mangoma said when the agreement was signed last year.
However, efforts by South African farmers whose land was acquired for resettlement to have the agreement cover such properties were unsuccessful with both countries insisting the deal would not be applied retrospectively.
A clause in the agreement reads: “the agreement applies to all investments, whether made before or after the date of entry into force of (the) agreement, but shall not apply to any property right or interest compulsorily acquired by either Party in its own territory before the entry into force of this Agreement”.