THE recent arrival of a five-member British trade delegation is a clear sign that at last business sense is about to prevail over political rhetoric as far as relations betweenZimbabwe and Britain are concerned.
During the time of Tony Blair as Prime Minister of Britain, we were used to hear our country being presented as a rogue state not fit to do business with.
All this was because Blair had even persuaded his European friends to impose illegal sanctions on us because we had embarked on the Land Reform Programme in 2000.
And the irony of it all is that this process was speeded up after Blair had reneged on a British pledge at Lancaster House to compensate white farmers.
Reality must have dawned on Britain and her allies on July 31 2013 when Zimbabweans emphatically reaffirmed their faith in ZANU PF.
The shattering defeat of the MDC-T must have forced the British to accept that expecting the Zimbabwean electorate to reject ZANU PF was wishful thinking.
Time for pragmatic politics as opposed to rhetoric had come.
It appears fortunate that this has come about at a time when the Conservatives are in power in Britain.
This is the same Conservatives whose Margaret Thatcher saw through the defects of the Zimbabwe-Rhodesia internal settlement and boldly called for the Lancaster House Conference.
This is the same Conservatives whose leader Harold Macmillan boldly predicted the inevitability of black majority rule in Africa in his famous ‘winds of change’ address to the South African Parliament in 1960.
Business sense shows that Zimbabwe has vast resources which the UK does not have.
With the prevailing climate a bold decision on renewed investment by the Conservatives therefore won’t be considered unusual.
If the language of the new British Ambassador, Catriona Laing, is anything to go by there is a world of difference between Labour Tony Blair and Tory David Cameron.
With Zim-ASSET ready for funding from investors from any corner of the globe, Britain will surely not like to be left behind.
The visiting trade delegation is a useful indicator.
The Chinese and the Russians have already taken the lead with recent billion dollar deals.
But there are still yawning gaps in the areas of infrastructure development, energy, transport, communication technology etc.
We have not closed the door to anyone.
Attempts by the International Monetary Fund, as pointed out elsewhere in this edition, to discredit the Chinese sound exceedingly insincere.
It is indisputable that the Chinese at present are the fastest growing economy leaving visible footprints on the African continent.
On our part we are aware that trade fortunes between any two countries might fluctuate.
Hence it is dangerous to put one’s eggs in one basket.
However, we might be unwittingly forced to do so because of the illegal sanctions forced upon us.
It is a given that the IMF is an arm of the United States.
Therefore what business dealings does America expect to do with us with the punitive Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act (ZDERA) in place?
However, we note with appreciation the growing realisation by the EU and Britain that the days of illegal sanctions are numbered.
Enter days of business pragmatism.
We therefore expect the EU to remove all forms of sanctions on Zimbabwe when they meet on Saturday to review the issue.
As Britain and the EU warm up to Zimbabwe, they should be assured that we welcome them with both hands so long as our sovereignty is respected.