Source: The Herald – Breaking news.
Ambassador Stephane Rey 
Farirai Machivenyika, Senior Reporter
Swiss Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Stephane Rey has commended Government’s decision to compensate investors whose land was acquired for resettlement but enjoyed protection under the Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements (BIPPA) .
Ambassador Rey said the move saying the move will improve investors’ confidence in the country.
Ambassador Rey made the remarks after paying a courtesy call on Speaker of the National Assembly, Advocate Jacob Mudenda last week.
He also said they discussed various issues that include peace building initiatives and outreach programmes to address the Gukurahundi issue.
“We talked about Switzerland’s role in the re-engagement process.
“Switzerland is one of the co-chairs of the re-engagement process.
“We co-facilitated together with the Office of the President and Cabinet the compensation of farmers, not Zimbabwean farmers, but Swiss farmers who had invested in Zimbabwe and were benefiting from BIPPAs.
“So, as part of Zimbabwe’s constitutional obligations, we had to come up with a solution to work out this compensation process, which will also send very positive signals internationally to potential investors who hopefully will be a little bit warmer when it comes to investing in Zimbabwe.
“And by doing this, we want to offer a concrete contribution to the slogan, ‘Zimbabwe is open for business’.
“So, hopefully Swiss investors will flock in at a faster pace, I would say.
“Zimbabwe and Switzerland will sign a double taxation agreement here in March, this is yet another signal of the fact that we are standing hand in hand with Zimbabwe to make it a more prosperous place,” Ambassador Rey said.
He said Switzerland supports Government’s move to resolve the Gukurahundi issue once and for all.
“We also talked about Switzerland’s long-standing support to Zimbabwe since 2015 in the field of peacebuilding. We talked about the Swiss support, the Gukurahundi outreach programme with interviews of victims which will start soon.
“We supported the training of the traditional chiefs. This is also part of our very discreet support to Zimbabwean national priorities, the priority of national reconciliation,” he said.
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