Zimbabwe eyes new partnership with Indonesia

Veeramalla Anjaiah, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

With its abundant natural resources, massive population and dynamic economic growth, Asia is emerging as a new strategic center of gravity in world politics and trade.

All the major players are in a race to bolster their ties with Asian countries and Zimbabwe -- despite its size and current problems -- does not want to lag behind.

Zimbabwe, a small southern African country, identified Indonesia -- the nation with the fourth largest population -- as one of its important partners in Asia under its "Look East" policy.

Zimbabwe's first-ever resident ambassador to Indonesia A. Mageza said her country formulated the "Look East" policy in 2000 to strengthen relations with Asian countries.

"As a first step toward having a new partnership with Indonesia, we opened our embassy just five months ago (October) in Jakarta. Now, we want to embark on another phase to forge our ties in political, economic and cultural fields," Ambassador Mageza, who submitted her credentials to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Jan. 10, told The Jakarta Post recently.

Located on Jl. Patra Kuningan VII/15 in South Jakarta, the Zimbabwean embassy is the latest addition to the list of 85 foreign diplomatic missions in Jakarta.

The 48-year-old career diplomat said Zimbabwe and Indonesia had established diplomatic relations in 1986, and two years later Jakarta opened its embassy in Harare. Previously, Indonesian affairs were handled by Zimbabwe's mission in Malaysia.

Zimbabwe, formerly known as Rhodesia, has shown keen interest in Indonesia in recent years. Last year, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe visited Indonesia.

Though Mugabe's visit was private in nature, he met with then president Megawati Soekarnoputri and other Indonesian officials. Both Megawati and Mugabe agreed on the need to bolster economic relations between the two countries. In 2004, Indonesia sent a team to Harare to study how to improve economic and trade ties with Zimbabwe.

"We have good political relations with Indonesia. But our bilateral trade volume is not commensurate with our countries' potential. Now we have our embassy here, we can focus on improving economic ties. For us, economic development is important. We want to learn from your experience," Mageza said.

The bilateral trade amount has been fluctuating in the range of US$18 million to $23million over the last five years.

Zimbabwe exports soybeans, cotton, ostrich meat and eggs to Indonesia and imports rubber, textiles and machines from Jakarta.

Asked about Zimbabwe's participation in the forthcoming Asian- African Summit (AAS), Mageza said her country's independence struggle was inspired by the 1995 Bandung Conference.

"Our President will be coming to Indonesia to attend the Summit (AAS). We are looking for partnership with Asian countries, including Indonesia. We want a cooperation based on a win-win situation not the carrot and the stick," Mageza said.

Zimbabwe -- which has suffered four consecutive years of drought from 2001 to the present -- has been facing an onslaught by Western media since it introduced in 2000 a land redistribution policy, under which the government seized prime farmland owned by a few thousand white farmers and distributed it to landless black people.

"Before this policy, 70 percent of the fertile land was owned by some 4,500 white farmers. Now the government has distributed this land to poor and landless people. Now things are improving," Mageza said.