China and Zimbabwe continue to strengthen their diplomatic ties.
China continues to push to establish a mutually beneficial trade relationship with Africa.
In its latest move in the continent, the east Asian giants erected a government building as a gift to the Zimbabwean government.
The building is a $200 million, six-story parliament high-rise structure in Mt. Hampden, about 18 kilometers (11 miles) west of the capital, Harare.
The president of Zimbabwe, Emmerson Mnangagwa hailed the new parliament building as “a testimony of the strategic and comprehensive partnership.”
He did this while presenting his state of the nation address at the opening of the fifth session of the ninth parliament – held for the first time in the recently completed multi-million dollar building.
The interior of the building is adorned with cave paintings by the San(an indigenous people of Southern Africa). Although the president highlighted the ingenuity behind the infrastructure in his speech yesterday, this building had been completed since June of this year.
This is the latest economic interaction between nations as their relationship dates back to the 60s. Souring relations with the West in 2003, propelled Zimbabwe to explore the option of partnering with Asian governments such as China and Russia.
Today, Zimbabwe and China have established strong ties, which has given rise to some Chinese architecture in Zimbabwe. For example, a Chinese construction company built the National Defense College in Harare, which opened in 2014.
Zimbabwe is hardly the only country in the sub-Saharan region the Chinese government is in business with. A few weeks ago, it was reported that China had also made a bold move with Tanzania, signing over a dozen deals with the East African country. Read the story here.
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