OUTGOING European Union Ambassador to Zimbabwe His Excellency Jobst Van Kirchmann bade farewell to Vice President General Retired Dr Constantino Chiwenga, where it emerged EU-Zimbabwe trade and investment has hit over US$800 million during the past three years.

The European Union (EU) top diplomat expressed optimism over the growth of ties with Zimbabwe.

Ambassador Van Kirchmann noted restored EU confidence on Zimbabwe was another top achievement during his tenure.

“Today I am here to bid farewell to the Vice President. During the last three years, we were investing in key sectors of the economy and that is an extremely prosperous partnership and we have mutual benefits. There are a lot of ingredients that have made the partnerships between the EU and Zimbabwe so crucial or important, the first one is that Zimbabwe and the European Union have an economic partnership in place, it is a free trade agreement,” he said.

“At a time when the world is talking about tariffs, any Zimbabwean company can export duty-free to the biggest trading bloc in the world that is the European Union, others achievements include increased Foreign Direct Investment at over 90 percent and growth in trade both at over US$880 million in the past three years.”

The Second Republic is forging ahead with the engagement and reengagement drive towards attracting global investment and capital inflows and increasing business confidence.