European Union representative in Zimbabwe, Timo Olkkonen has once again said that the European Union never imposed trade sanctions on Zimbabwe. Posting on Twitter, Timo Olkkonen said:
PS @nickmangwana you know there are no&never was EU trade “sanctions” against Zimbabwe. active restrictive measures are targeted against former Presidential couple, Zimbabwe Defence Industries&arms embargo. this story intrigued me however &here’s what it’s really about: @euinzim
Even @HeraldZimbabwe did not say it’s about “sanctions” & if you read the story you will see farmers in question appealing to government.would-be importers are careful not to import produce from disputed land in fear of legal action by aggrieved parties.
Seems importers from some regions are less concerned about fear of litigation than others. Bottom-line is, this is not an “EU-sanction” but pure commercial logic and self-interest.
way to fix this is to bring clarity to land-ownership. It’s not about reversing land-reform but address compensation, establish reliable cadastre & documentation to guarantee security of tenure. And observe the rule of law. EU is supporting financially these areas btw…. like we are supporting agriculture in Zimbabwe in general, to the tune of 100 M €. We are also supporting private sector cooperation, like the recently launched 10 M € Zimbabwe Economic Partnership Agreement Programme to help Zimbabwe benefit from EU duty"a free access
The EU and it’s Member States are also the world’s largest supporters of trade facilitation. A year ago Zimbabwe joined the WTO trade facilitation agreement, which makes it possible to benefit from technical and financial assistance for trade facilitation
In 2018 of the 6,9 thousand ton imports of shelled macadamia to EU28 only 5 tons came from Zim. Demand is growing, there’s an opportunity here but “sanctions” are not the problem.
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