By Wallace Mawire
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative in Zimbabwe, Dr Ayodele Odusola commended Zimbabwe on its 2024 budget which committed $55 million to deal with issues relating to the Global Compensation Deed and Bilateral Investment Promotion and Promotion Agreements.
Dr Odusola made the remarks at the Human Development Report dialogue session on the 2023-24 Global Human Development Report under the theme:Breaking the gridlock:Reimagining cooperation in a polarised world in Harare yesterday.
He advised participants who included government representatives, UN agencies and the diplomatic community that committed implementation of the budgetary provision and improved governance across all levels of government in Zimbabwe are key to accelerating progress on clearing debt arrears.
Odusola said that while UNDP and its government partners in Zimbabwe have cooperated in a Structured Dialogue Platform to decrease debt and increase Zimbabwe’s fiscal health, more must be done by creditors to clear the country of the external debt arrears.
‘’Rolling back the arrears, placing the country towards a financially healthy condition, would signify the kind of risk reduction that appeals to private investment,’ Dr Odusola said.
He added that to this end, the government of Zimbabwe cannot achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).He said that instead, a whole-of-society approach is central to their achievement.
He said that the private sector must be aggressively engaged to profitably invest in Zimbabwe’s development, offering sustainable opportunities to build upon the achievements so far gained, ultimately scaling up the kinds of successes that dramatically advance achievement of the SDGs.
Dr Odusola said that one major challenge that development partners must confront is the chilling effect the debt arrears and other economic conditions have had on Foreign Direct Investments.
The 2023-24 HDR emphasizes how global interdependence is being reconfigured and calls for a new generation of global public goods which include new and expanded financial mechanisms, including a novel track in international cooperation that complements humanitarian assistance and traditional development aid to low-income countries.
