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Africa Focus: Zimbabwe says keen to grant visa exemption to Chinese visitors

Xinhua, March 5, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Zimbabwean government said Wednesday it is willing to grant visa exemption to Chinese nationals to boost the country's tourism sector.

Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi said Zimbabwe was keen to have the Chinese upgraded to Category B of the country's visa classification which will allow the Chinese to obtain visas on entry into Zimbabwe.

The Chinese are currently required to obtain visas in China to visit Zimbabwe.

"We are very much willing to open our borders to the Chinese people so that they come in their numbers and boost our tourism industry," the minister said.

The minister was speaking at a half-day workshop on Chinese enterprises and community integration into Zimbabwe, an event organized by the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Chinese embassy in Zimbabwe.

According to the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority, Zimbabwe has been receiving between 3,800 and 5,500 Chinese tourist per annum, against arrivals of between 80,000 and 100,000 in neighbouring countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

Chinese Ambassador Lin Lin said he will follow up the visa exemption issue with the Zimbabwean side to reach an agreement at the earliest possible time.

"We are going to do what we can through consultations, dialogue, and negotiations with our counterparts in the Foreign Affairs and Home Affairs Ministries to reach further agreement to ensure the citizens of our two countries have easy access to travel, do business and invest," he said.

He said the Chinese government has in recent years been making efforts to reach agreements with as many countries as possible to enable Chinese citizens to travel abroad.

The pledge by Zimbabwe to grant the visa exemption to Chinese nationals comes at a time when both countries last November scraped visa requirements for holders of diplomatic and service passports.

The move followed a Memorandum of Understanding that the two countries had signed during President Robert Mugabe's visit to China in August 2014.

Meanwhile, Lin hailed the growing bilateral relations between the two countries, noting that bilateral trade had been strong and growing at an average annual growth rate of 10 percent.

China is Zimbabwe's largest source of foreign direct investment and the second largest trade partner, with bilateral trade having surpassed the one billion dollar mark.

He said China had made remarkable contribution to Zimbabwe's economic growth through its investments in major sectors of the economy which had also helped in employment creation. Endi