Zimbabwe is open for business, Economic Planning and Investment Promotion Minister Tapiwa Mashakada said on Thursday, urging South African companies to investigate investment opportunities.

“South Africa must seize the opportunity now to position themselves to invest in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe offers many opportunities across the wide spectrum of all sectors of the economy,” he said at a trade and investment conference in Johannesburg.

The Zimbabwe economy is rebounding after a decade of economic decline and Mashakada pointed out that growth of 9.4% is forecast for 2012. Zimbabwe aimed to reach an investment to gross domestic product ratio of 25% by 2015, he added.

The conference, themed ‘Invest in Zimbabwe, invest in a resource-rich and growing economy’, also highlighted strong trade between South Africa and Zimbabwe, with more than 50% of Zimbabwe’s imports originating from South Africa, and 56% of Zimbabwe’s exports heading to South Africa.

South Africa and Zimbabwe must work together for the “common good”, and needed to establish strong relations with one another, Mashakada emphasised.

“We should be building many bridges of engagement between the two countries,” added Zimbabwean ambassador to South Africa, Phelekezela Mphoko.

The conference outlined various sectors ready for investment, including manufacturing, mining, infrastructure, telecommunications, construction and banking.

Commenting on indigenisation, which has caused concern among mining investors especially as the Minister of Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment, Saviour Kasukuwere threatened this week to take over a mine owned by South Africa’s Impala Platinum, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai asserted that it was not government’s policy to expropriate or nationalise private assets.

He stressed, however, that the country’s vast resources have not translated into growth for the country, mostly owing to policy inconsistencies and said that the country needed to insert policies that would allow the locals to benefit from its resources.

“The issue of Zimplats [Impala Platinum’s Zimbabwe-based operations] is a work in progress. Nowhere does the law say you should grab assets or nationalise,” he added.

Impala Platinum’s proposed plan to meet indigenisation laws – which require foreign firms to transfer 51% of their assets in the country to locals – was rejected last week, causing concerns that investments in the Zimbabwean mining industry were on shaky ground.

“Through dialogue, I am sure some measure of participation by locals would be arrived at,” Tsvangirai said.

Some countries believed in broad-based economic empowerment, he said, and Zimbabwe agreed with the principle, but the ruling party and its opponents  held contrary views on the  implementation and execution of such a policy.

Further, Zimbabweans did not have the resources to acquire the designated percentage.

Finance Minister Tendai Biti added that no investments have been pulled out of the country to date because of indigenisation. For the most part, agreements, in terms of community ownerships or some form of benefits for the locals, have been reached with countries operating in Zimbabwe.