Industry and Commerce Minister Nqobizitha Mangaliso Ndhlovu has engaged Dubai Chambers President and Chief Executive Officer Mohammad Ali Rashed Lootah to strengthen trade, investment and private-sector cooperation between Zimbabwe and Dubai.
The engagement was held on Tuesday, on the margins of the 2026 Annual Investment Meeting (AIM) Congress in Dubai, where Minister Ndhlovu was accompanied by Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates Isaac Moyo and officials from the Ministry of Industry and Commerce.
Minister Ndhlovu said the engagement was aimed at transforming the longstanding relationship between Zimbabwe and the UAE into concrete commercial and investment opportunities.
“We had a very productive engagement with the President and CEO of Dubai Chambers, His Excellency Mohammad Ali Rashed Lootah, focusing on how we can strengthen trade, investment and private-sector cooperation between Zimbabwe and Dubai,” he said.
He said Zimbabwe was ready to work with Dubai’s business community to unlock opportunities in manufacturing, agro-processing, mineral beneficiation, infrastructure, renewable energy and value-chain development.
“Zimbabwe has significant investment opportunities across manufacturing, agro-processing, mineral beneficiation, infrastructure, renewable energy and value-chain development. These are sectors where we believe investors from Dubai can play an important role,” Minister Ndhlovu said.
He said Government was committed to creating an enabling environment capable of attracting investment while supporting industrialisation, local value addition and export growth.
“Our Government remains committed to creating a competitive and enabling business environment that supports investment, industrialisation, local value addition and export growth. We want to create conditions where investors can come into Zimbabwe, establish sustainable businesses and participate meaningfully in our economic transformation,” he said.
Minister Ndhlovu said although the UAE was Zimbabwe’s largest export destination in 2025, with exports approaching US$6 billion, the structure of trade needed to change.
“We appreciate the importance of the UAE market to Zimbabwe, but we must also acknowledge that our exports remain largely dominated by mineral-based resources. Our ambition is to increasingly export value-added and high-value manufactured products rather than predominantly exporting unprocessed minerals,” he said.
He said this approach would enable Zimbabwe to retain more value from its resources and strengthen domestic industries.
“We want Zimbabwe to capture a greater share of value along our production and export value chains. This is central to our industrialisation agenda and will help create jobs, build industrial capacity and grow our export earnings,” Minister Ndhlovu said.
The meeting proposed a high-level Dubai Chambers business delegation to Zimbabwe in 2027 to engage Government, local companies and other stakeholders, identify bankable projects and explore investment partnerships.
