Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what plans he has to promote economic cooperation between the United Kingdom and Zimbabwe.

The Foreign Secretary is putting growth at the heart of our foreign policy making, including improving relationships with the fastest growing markets of the future across the Global South. Trade between Zimbabwe and the UK was worth £633 million in 2023 and increasing economic growth between the UK and Zimbabwe is a top priority for our Embassy in Harare. We are pursuing this through a range of channels, including by supporting UK businesses to enter and navigate the Zimbabwean market and engaging with firms interested in the mining, horticulture, renewable energy and wider sustainability sectors. On 10 July, the UK's development finance institution, British International Investment, signed an agreement to invest $10 million in a Zimbabwean bank, for lending to the agriculture sector.