Chinese Ministry of Commerce granted Zimbabwe RMB 20 million for agricultural expertise.

On April 3, 2018, the Chinese Government signed bilateral cooperation agreements with Zimbabwe in the fields of economy and technology, agriculture, science and technology, and human resources development during President Emmerson Mnangawa's visit to China. Later that month, documents from Zimbabwe's Treasury revealed that the Chinese government granted RMB 20 million to Zimbabwe for agriculture expertise following the presidential visit and that Zimbabwe was processing paperwork related to the transaction. According to the Government of Zimbabwe, this money had been previously allocated to Zimbabwe for the 2015-2017 term but had not been paid out then for various reasons. According to an article from ChinaPlus, 10 Chinese agricultural experts were welcomed to Zimbabwe on December 5, 2018 (the official tenure began on November 8, 2018 and ended in September, 2021) for and they are responsible for providing assistance to Zimbabwe in the areas of agronomy, husbandry, aquaculture and agricultural machinery. During the welcome ceremony the Chinese Economic and Commercial Councilor in Zimbabwe Chen Ning, noted that these experts were apart of the priority initiatives of the Chinese President Xi Jinping and Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa. Alongside the experts, Councilor Ning also noted that China is making agricultural training in China available, alongside Chinese support for agricultural parks. During their tenure in Zimbabwe the agricultural experts built agricultural demonstration villages ("Chinese solution helps Zimbabwean farmers eliminate poverty") ("Zimbabwean villagers benefit from China-funded poultry project"), and according to ChinaAfrica the experts have conducted training courses through local agricultural schools, the experts also sought the donation of additional agricultural equipment captured in (project #61831).

Additional details

The financing for these agricultural experts is not specifically allocated to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, however because the programs that they worked on were sponsored by ChinaAid, it is faithfully assumed that the financing came from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.

Number of official sources

3

Number of total sources

11