ISDS Case Map
Zimbabwe
Economic Planning and Investment Promotion Minister Tapiwa Mashakada has decried the lack of positive outcomes from the Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements Zimbabwe has signed with a number of countries.
Industry and Commerce Minister Welshman Ncube says if negotiations for the Common Market for East and Southern Africa - East African Community - South African Development Corporation Tripartite Free Trade Area (FTA) are successfully completed, Zimbabwean goods and commodities will find greater markets on the continent.
South African farmers in Zimbabwe will not forfeit their land or investments as a result of a bilateral agreement still to be signed, a Pretoria judge ordered.
The imminent signing of a new bilateral investment protection treaty (BIPPA) between Zimbabwe and South Africa could be halted, if an application in the Pretoria High Court on behalf of more than 200 farmers proves successful on Thursday.
South Africa's main agriculture and farming union has expressed concern about the bilateral investment treaty agreed with Zimbabwe, which is set to exclude South African owned farms that were expropriated by the Robert Mugabe regime during the chaotic land 'reform' programme.
While Agri SA has been leading a push for South African farmers to invest and farm in a number of other countries across Africa, including the Republic of Congo, Libya and Zambia, the union has urged its members to stay away from countries where South Africa has no investment protection agreements.
The Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (BIPPA) between Zimbabwe and South Africa, initially scheduled for signing in April and later deferred to June, is headed for total collapse as the two parties have failed to agree on the wording of Article 11 of the agreement.
Zimbabwe recently joined five other African countries in signing the Eastern and Southern Africa European Commission (ESAEC) Interim Economic Partnership Agreement (IEPA) in Mauritius, Industry and Commerce Deputy Minister Mike Bimha has said.
It is saddening that Zimbabwe is going ahead in signing the interim and full Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with the European Union (EU) at the expense of its citizens, small-scale farmers and industries.
The Minister of Industry and Commerce, Professor Welshman Ncube stated that cabinet had agreed to sign the interim EPAs that will run until December 2010 adding that full EPAs would be signed by end of December 2010.
The EU has today signed an important trade agreement with four countries in Eastern and Southern Africa, namely Zimbabwe, Mauritius, Madagascar and Seychelles.
