Focus on Zimbabwe's Foreign Policy : What is it ?
A layman's Perspective.
By Hosia Mviringi
Thursday, 05 March 2020 2146hrs
A Foreign Policy is a set of PRICIPLES and guidelines that guide a nation's ATTITUDE towards certain aspect of International Relations.
These principles overlap such aspects as Politics, Economics / Trade and or Inter-State Relations.
Our Foreign Policy is premised on the need for non-interference in and respect to National Sovereignty of individual nation states as opposed to expansionist policies of other world powers.
Our Foreign Policy recognized and still recognizes that we are a liberated country which had to go through a brutal struggle to free ourselves with the help of friendly nations.
So our Foreign Policy sympathizes with all former liberation movements across the world and it obliges us to pay homage to and solidarity with those nations that are still under oppression of any kind by other nations.Such countries include but not limited to Palestine in the Middle East and the Saharawi Republic in Africa.
Indeed it remains my considered opinion that there is still room to embrace and engage such other not-so-friendly nations such as Israel who occupy influencial positions to such world superpowers as the United States of America.
This has the potential to speed up normalization of our relations with the USA.
This however does not imply that we should throw away our national values and founding principles.
It rather calls for a rebalancing of our policies to achieve multiple successes in the shortest possible timeframes.
This is the bit about the Historical side of our Foreign Policy, no doubt dominated by Politics.
However the New Dispensation led by President ED Mnangagwa has adopted Re-Engagement as the core of our Foreign Policy.The current Foreign Policy trajectory recognizes the central position that International Relations as a component of our Foreign Policy plays in the whole scheme of things.
Our Foreign Policy in historical terms tended to be too aggressive and exclusionary.We were too fond of pointing fingers and excluding certain sections of the International community.
But with the advent of Globalization it was discovered that this Policy inclination didn't quite work.
Globalization has seen the interconnectedness of the world economies being further strengthened.
This effectively means that no country can survive economically in isolation.
As testimony to this Zimbabwe in recent years lost millions of United States Dollars to America's Office of Foreign Assets Control ( OFAC ) as a direct result of prevailing acrimonious relations between our country and some Western economic powers, which has been translated into a Sanctions Regime.
The New Dispensation apparently recognized the power of engagement in the face of such aggressive tactics by powerful countries as the current regime of Sanctions on our nation.The current Policy recognizes the importance and urgency of viable engagement even with our erstwhile enemies as a way to reintegrate our country back into the family if nations.
As a sign of this new energy and commitment to re-engangement as a Foreign Policy tool the President Cde ED Mnangagwa himself as the Chief Diplomat, soon after his first swearing in on 23 November 2017 did not waste time but HE immediately hit the ground running, engaging world leaders starting from the African region going out into Europe and Eurasia.He continues to engage up to this day.
This is testimony to the importance attached to International engagement and re-engangement as an indispensable Foreign Policy tool.
Whether this is going to work or not is a question for another day.
Another notable and very pertinent addition to our Foreign Policy is the refocusing of our International engagements from mere political interests to major on what has been termed Economic Diplomacy.
This current Policy direction recognizes that Economics is what feeds and sustain an Nation and give it stature amongst other nations.
So under this Policy Dispensation all our Diplomats in all facets including Sports were and trained and encouraged to make sure that any and all engagements they participate in bring Economic value to the nation and that their presence in foreign jurisdictions is justified by tangible economic returns to the nation.
Such returns are in the form of direct formal remittences by our national resident therein, engaging and encouraging foreign nationals, both individuals and corporates to invest in the country.
Under this Policy trajectory those resident in unfriendly territories are encouraged to initiate dialogue and negotiations that can positively impact on the the relations with such nations through such reciprocal actions as complete or partial removal of Sanctions.
In short this is the anatomy of Zimbabwe's Foreign Policy , for a layman's understanding.
End .
A layman's Perspective.
By Hosia Mviringi
Thursday, 05 March 2020 2146hrs
A Foreign Policy is a set of PRICIPLES and guidelines that guide a nation's ATTITUDE towards certain aspect of International Relations.
These principles overlap such aspects as Politics, Economics / Trade and or Inter-State Relations.
Our Foreign Policy is premised on the need for non-interference in and respect to National Sovereignty of individual nation states as opposed to expansionist policies of other world powers.
Our Foreign Policy recognized and still recognizes that we are a liberated country which had to go through a brutal struggle to free ourselves with the help of friendly nations.
So our Foreign Policy sympathizes with all former liberation movements across the world and it obliges us to pay homage to and solidarity with those nations that are still under oppression of any kind by other nations.Such countries include but not limited to Palestine in the Middle East and the Saharawi Republic in Africa.
Indeed it remains my considered opinion that there is still room to embrace and engage such other not-so-friendly nations such as Israel who occupy influencial positions to such world superpowers as the United States of America.
This has the potential to speed up normalization of our relations with the USA.
This however does not imply that we should throw away our national values and founding principles.
It rather calls for a rebalancing of our policies to achieve multiple successes in the shortest possible timeframes.
This is the bit about the Historical side of our Foreign Policy, no doubt dominated by Politics.
However the New Dispensation led by President ED Mnangagwa has adopted Re-Engagement as the core of our Foreign Policy.The current Foreign Policy trajectory recognizes the central position that International Relations as a component of our Foreign Policy plays in the whole scheme of things.
Our Foreign Policy in historical terms tended to be too aggressive and exclusionary.We were too fond of pointing fingers and excluding certain sections of the International community.
But with the advent of Globalization it was discovered that this Policy inclination didn't quite work.
Globalization has seen the interconnectedness of the world economies being further strengthened.
This effectively means that no country can survive economically in isolation.
As testimony to this Zimbabwe in recent years lost millions of United States Dollars to America's Office of Foreign Assets Control ( OFAC ) as a direct result of prevailing acrimonious relations between our country and some Western economic powers, which has been translated into a Sanctions Regime.
The New Dispensation apparently recognized the power of engagement in the face of such aggressive tactics by powerful countries as the current regime of Sanctions on our nation.The current Policy recognizes the importance and urgency of viable engagement even with our erstwhile enemies as a way to reintegrate our country back into the family if nations.
As a sign of this new energy and commitment to re-engangement as a Foreign Policy tool the President Cde ED Mnangagwa himself as the Chief Diplomat, soon after his first swearing in on 23 November 2017 did not waste time but HE immediately hit the ground running, engaging world leaders starting from the African region going out into Europe and Eurasia.He continues to engage up to this day.
This is testimony to the importance attached to International engagement and re-engangement as an indispensable Foreign Policy tool.
Whether this is going to work or not is a question for another day.
Another notable and very pertinent addition to our Foreign Policy is the refocusing of our International engagements from mere political interests to major on what has been termed Economic Diplomacy.
This current Policy direction recognizes that Economics is what feeds and sustain an Nation and give it stature amongst other nations.
So under this Policy Dispensation all our Diplomats in all facets including Sports were and trained and encouraged to make sure that any and all engagements they participate in bring Economic value to the nation and that their presence in foreign jurisdictions is justified by tangible economic returns to the nation.
Such returns are in the form of direct formal remittences by our national resident therein, engaging and encouraging foreign nationals, both individuals and corporates to invest in the country.
Under this Policy trajectory those resident in unfriendly territories are encouraged to initiate dialogue and negotiations that can positively impact on the the relations with such nations through such reciprocal actions as complete or partial removal of Sanctions.
In short this is the anatomy of Zimbabwe's Foreign Policy , for a layman's understanding.
End .
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