Chinese ambassador to Zimbabwe Zhou Ding says the friendship between China and Zimbabwe continues to grow stronger with each passing year, as trade between the two countries scaled US$3.8 billion last year, a 25% growth from 2023.
He was speaking at the Chinese embassy in Harare yesterday where he presided over the Awarding Ceremony of the China-Zimbabwe Friendship Scholarship programme in which 52 students from different schools around the country got grants to further their education.
Ding said China has stood firmly with Zimbabwe as a reliable partner in development, from infrastructure projects to educational and cultural exchange programmes, technology transfer, and other things in a bid to bring concrete results and substantial benefits to Zimbabwe.
He added China has remained Zimbabwe’s largest source of investment and major trading partner in the past decades, helping the country to generate hundreds of millions in United States dollars in tax revenue each year for government, and creating thousands of job opportunities for local people in the process.
Present at the event was Dr Laston Mukaro, director of Confucius Institute at the Univeristy of Zimbabwe, and Deputy Higher and Tertiary Education minister Simelisizwe Sibanda.