Botswana and Zim to finally sign liquidity plan

Trade and Industry minister Dorcas Makgato-Malesu is expected to leave for Harare on Sunday to sign the agreement on behalf of Botswana. "The Minister of Trade and Industry will on the 21st March 2011 be signing the BIPPA in Harare, Zimbabwe with her counterpart in that country," says a statement from BOCCIM. "The BIPPA is a pre-condition [for] the rollout of the P500 million credit line for Zimbabwe from the Government of Botswana."

BOCCIM says it will mount a trade mission alongside the event and engage in business discussions with Zimbabwe's private sector from 21 to 23 March 2011. Botswana decided to extend the P500 million to Zimbabwe under the Short-Term Emergency Recovery Programme (STERP) that SADC member states agreed on as a means of assisting Zimbabwe to recover more than two years ago.