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By Joyce Mukucha
Canada’s Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Christina Buchan on Monday paid a courtesy call to the Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Senator Monica Mutsvangwa and they discussed the need to cement relations in the media sector as part of deepening cooperation between the two countries.
In an interview after the meeting in Harare, Minister Mutsvangwa said the Ministry was pleased to have had the opportunity to meet with the Ambassador and discussed a number of issues with the main focus being on the media sector as it will enhance the operations of media practitioners for both nations.
As part of its engagement and re-engagement strategy and mutual benefit, Minister Mutsvangwa said, Zimbabwe was ready to partner with other nations.
“As the Ministry, we are quite excited to have met the Ambassador of Canada. We discussed a lot of issues aimed at deepening our relationships and to make sure that there are a lot of things we can do in terms of our partnership making sure that we benchmark with what is happening in the media section in Canada,”
“There are a lot of opportunities for partnerships. I have had an opportunity to work with women’s institutions in Canada. We also want to work with our counterparts in Canada so that we benchmark. We want our journalists to report from a point of exposure. We would also want their journalists to come and see for themselves what Zimbabwe looks like and what is happening in our country. Also, our journalists can go there and understand how the media in Canada operates,” said Minister Mutsvangwa.
She said the meeting also looked at the reforms and opening up of airwaves that have taken place in the Zimbabwean media landscape and also had a conversation on other commendable strides Zimbabwe has taken place since the coming in of the Second Republic.
“We have also briefed the Ambassador on the achievements which we have had from the time the Second Republic came into place including the media reforms which have taken place and also the issue that for the first time in the history of this country, we have issued licenses for commercial televisions which was never the case for the past 40 years. We have also gone further to make sure that we license community radios to make sure that we don’t leave anybody behind.
“This is what the President, Cde Emmerson Mnangagwa is talking about that we need to move with everybody and we are seeing a lot of positive results.”
The Minister added that her Ministry was working tirelessly to rebrand this country for all Zimbabweans hoping everyone makes an impact with diasporans involved.
“Also the Ambassador has been informing us about how she loves this country and how she loves working with Zimbabweans. It has been a wonderful meeting,” she added.
Ambassador Buchan said the meeting was fruitful as they managed to discuss the role of women journalists and the feminist international policies.
“We had a meeting with the minister and discussed how we can collaborate further and strengthen our relationship on how journalists can cooperate and work together.
“It was a pleasure to discuss the role of women journalists and the feminist international policies. Canada has a feminist international assistance policy and we also discussed the progress that has been made up to date and other upcoming legislation and reforms to be taken.
“I really appreciate the dialogue and the collaboration as we start a relationship with Zimbabwe,” said Ambassador Buchan.