Sweden to maintain Zim ties after embassy closure

Mukudzei Chingwere

Senior Reporter

SWEDEN will continue working with Zimbabwe despite closing its embassy in Harare, with cooperation expected to proceed through regional and thematic programmes, institutional partnerships and longstanding people-to-people relations.

Speaking to journalists after paying a farewell courtesy call on Vice President Dr Constantino Chiwenga in Harare yesterday, outgoing Swedish Ambassador to Zimbabwe Per Lindgarde said the embassy closure would not end the relationship between the two countries.

Although Sweden was phasing out its bilateral development co-operation strategy, other channels would remain available to support Zimbabwe.

“We are phasing out our bilateral development strategy. But there will be other streams of support coming to Zimbabwe from regional strategies, from thematic strategies,” he said.

“So there will be, for example, some support for some civil society organisations. And also cooperation between different authorities will continue.”

Ambassador Lindgarde identified public health as one area where institutional cooperation was expected to continue.

“Like the Swedish Public Health Agency, they are on their way to sign an MOU with the Ministry of Health. So that cooperation will continue,” he said.

Sweden has separately indicated that its support to Zimbabwe through multilateral organisations and the European Union will not be affected by the embassy closure.

Swedish authorities have also said they will continue supporting companies operating in Zimbabwe.

Ambassador Lindgarde said his discussions with VP Chiwenga reflected on the background of the relationship and how these could support future cooperation.

“We discussed the historic relations between Sweden and Zimbabwe. We had the first Swedish missionaries coming to Zimbabwe in 1903, building some schools and health clinics. And then of course we supported the liberation struggle,” he said.

Sweden provided humanitarian assistance to Zimbabwe’s liberation movements, including ZANU and ZAPU.

Ambassador Lindgarde said that shared history remained an important foundation for continued engagement.

“We agreed that the historic relations between our countries is a very strong foundation for future cooperation,” he said.

“But the people-to-people ties and the historic relations will help us to continue having very strong relations between our two countries.”

Turning to Zimbabwe’s economic outlook, Ambassador Lindgarde said he had observed improvements in macroeconomic stability during his three-year tenure.

“I think we see positive developments happening in Zimbabwe on the economic sector,” he said.

“There is much more macroeconomic stability in the country since I came three years ago. We have seen that inflation is coming down. You have now single-digit numbers.”

The Swedish envoy cited the August inflation figure of 2,9 percent as an indication of progress and said the country was moving in the right direction economically. The Ambassador said sustained economic stability was also important to Zimbabwe’s arrears clearance process, which could help unlock access to development finance.

He expressed hope that clearing arrears to multilateral institutions would eventually enable Zimbabwe to access an IMF financing programme on concessional terms.

Such financing, Ambassador Lindgarde said, could support infrastructure development, which was essential to industrialisation.

“That will help develop the country even further when it comes to building the infrastructure, which will be crucial for the industrialisation of the country,” he said.

His remarks underscored Sweden’s intention to maintain engagement with Zimbabwe through alternative cooperation channels, even as its resident diplomatic presence and bilateral development programme are wound down.

Source: Sweden to maintain Zim ties after embassy closure – herald

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