PRESIDENT Mugabe arrived in the Mozambican capital, Maputo, yesterday to attend the Fourth Summit of the Heads of State of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries.
Cde Mugabe, who is being accompanied by the First Lady, Cde Grace Mugabe, acting Minister of Finance and Economic Development Cde Herbert Murerwa and senior Government officials, is expected to join 15 other heads of state and government at the two-day summit, which is expected to discuss peace and security in the 78-member trading bloc.
The summit will also assess the attainment of the United Nations Millennium Developmental Goals, examine prospects for the ACP/European Union relations and relations with other partners in the context of a changing world.
The leaders are also expected to discuss intra-ACP co-operation.
ACP foreign and trade ministers have already been meeting in Maputo ahead of the Heads of State summit with Zimbabwe being represented by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cde Stan Mudenge, the Minister of Industry and International Trade, Cde Samuel Mumbengegwi, and Zimbabwe's Ambassador to the EU in Brussels, Belgium, Mr Gift Punungwe.
The EU would be represented by a number of commissioners, while Mrs Glennys Kinnock, a staunch opponent of Zimbabwe, is also expected to attend as one of the representatives of the joint EU/ACP Parliamentary Assemblies.
Diplomats were optimistic that the summit would proceed well. They said although Zimbabwe was no longer on the agenda of the EU/ACP Parliamentary Assemblies, the country, together with such states as the Sudan, Togo, Equatorial Guinea, Liberia and Haiti, might feature under EU sanctions.
The EU imposed so-called targeted sanctions on Zimbabwe and suspended development co-operation after the country embarked on the land reform programme.
However, ACP countries have on numerous occasions come out in full support of Zimbabwe.
Last year an EU/ACP joint parliamentary session in Brussels, the EU headquarters, collapsed after the ACP group resisted attempts by the European bloc to bar two Zimbabwean ministers from attending the session.
Cde Mugabe was welcomed in Maputo yesterday by Mozambican Prime Minister Luisa Diogo, Cde Mudenge and Zimbabwe's Ambassador to Mozambique Cde David Hamadziripi.
Fonte: AIM
