Zimbabwean businesses hope to benefit from China’s economic growth

A leader of the Zimbabwean business community expressed expectations that businesses in his country will benefit from China's sustained economic growth and learn from its development model.

In an exclusive interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN), Tapiwa Karoro, president of the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce, the country's largest grouping of businesses, said he has been impressed to see the consistent growth of the Chinese GDP over the past decade.

"That has seen them on a very exciting trajectory in terms of the economy. It's already number two, the second-largest economy in the world. What else have we seen out of China? I think rapid urbanization, the development of megacities. They undertook arguably one of the largest infrastructure projects in the world, the Belt and Road Initiative, and that's all obviously then seen them almost directly investing over 60 countries in one infrastructure project," Karoro said.

He noted that there are many aspects of the Chinese development model the Zimbabwe could learn from, specifically from a private sector perspective.

"Certainly I don't think that the growth that China has seen would happen if you had government on one end pushing policy in one direction and the private sector on the other end pushing in another direction. So I think if there's one lesson that we can learn, politics aside, is do we have all stakeholders moving in a clear, unified direction. Are we all clear as Zimbabweans about the agenda that we want to push? And I think that’s what China has been able to do," he said.

Karoro also advocated for increased value addition within Africa and the promotion of value-added African products in the Chinese market to foster more sustainable and robust trade relationships going forward.

"I would at least like to see the African-China trade relations you know being diversified from not just your commodities or raw commodities. I think we would like to see a lot more value addition being done in Africa. I think would like to see more of value-added products from Africa finding markets in China and I think the more robust the trade becomes the more sustainable the relationship will be going forward," the chamber president said.

Zimbabwean businesses hope to benefit from China’s economic growth

Over 100 migrants deported by the United States to Panama, stranded in a foreign country with no money, no knowledge of Spanish and no future, complained they were misled, detained in harsh conditions, and forcibly removed without proper explanation, raising human rights violation concerns.

The United States has deported 299 migrants from multiple countries to Panama since February, designating the Central American nation as a temporary transit hub under a bilateral agreement between the two countries. At least 107 migrants remain stranded in Panama after refusing repatriation to their home countries, according to Panamanian authorities. Now 192 of the 299 deportees have returned to their home countries. The 107 migrants, transferred to a government-run shelter on the outskirts of Panama City, complained they were detained in U.S. facilities under harsh conditions and deported without clear communication about their destinations. "We weren't allowed to rest while in custody. Every time when we were about to fall asleep, someone would bang on the door, which made us very uneasy. We thought we were to be sent to Texas, but after a six-hour flight we found out we were in Panama," said a deportee from Afghanistan.

An Eritrean migrant, interviewed in English, described similar confusion.

"We weren't told (that we are being deported). We just [went] to the airport by bus, (and waited) for one hour after one hour at the airport. I think (in total there were) maybe 60 people. I was not told (we were going to) Panama, just to move (to another place of custody) maybe," he said.

"Many of the deported migrants expressed that the deportations were carried out against their personal will and violated their human rights. As far as we can see, there are indeed violations of human rights in evictions," said Raphael Rodriguez, President of the Association of Naturalized Residents of Panama.

Panama has issued 30-day humanitarian visas to the deported migrants, extendable to 90 days. However, they must cover their own expenses and find a way to leave the country.

"I have children in Africa. In Panama, we don't have good work. I have nothing, so I don't know what I can do," said the deported Eritrean immigrant.

Deportees accuse US of human right violations