Zimbabwe is "open for business" and foreign investment in the southern African country is safe, President Emmerson Mnangagwa said on Thursday at a function ahead of next week's World Economic Forum meeting in Davos.

Mnangagwa, who swept to power last year after a de facto coup ousted former president Robert Mugabe, told the gathering of government officials and business leaders that he was going to the Davos meetings to "dispel the perception" that Zimbabwe is "an isolated island."