A RUSSIAN Federation business delegation is set to visit Zimbabwe on an investment mission, with the setting up of manufacturing plants in the country already under consideration. The Rais (head) of the Republic of Tatarstan, Mr Rustam Minnikhanov, said this after meeting Vice President Dr Constantino Chiwenga at the Kazan Kremlin on the sidelines of the Phygital Games of the Future Kazan 2024 which were officially opened last night by Russian President Vladimir Putin. In his speech, President Putin said his country has always welcomed the promotion of sports and its noble humanitarian value and the games were their gift to the sporting world. VP Chiwenga was one of the international guests at the official opening ceremony. But before the games’ opening, VP Chiwenga engaged with Tatarstan authorities to pursue areas of cooperation for the mutual benefit of the two nations. Tatarstan is a republic of the Russian Federation and is known for its high-tech and high-level manufacturing industry as well as a powerful agricultural sector. President Mnangagwa has been on a drive to lure investment and the interest of the Russians to expand business with Zimbabwe shows that big global economic players are taking note of the developments in the country. Mr Minnikhanov said there are possibilities for enhanced cooperation with Zimbabwe and is looking forward to getting the relationship going. “Very soon our delegation will come and visit your country to work preliminarily on all of the issues and I am sure that the visit of this delegation will provide a strong impetus to advance relations with Tatarstan and the Republic of Zimbabwe within the Russian and Zimbabwean relations,” he said. “We will form the business mission that will come and visit the Republic of Zimbabwe and I am sure that we can find areas where we can arrange something and utilise the potential of the enterprises.” “In terms of agriculture, that will be the supply of equipment and technology related to irrigation. I believe that there are many possibilities. There are positive examples of cooperation where we are supplying vehicles, machinery equipment, helicopters . . . rubbers, plastics, a very big segment can be in agriculture, specifically, the supply of products from Tatarstan. “There is a big need in your country in terms of irrigation systems, we have vast experience and we are willing to collaborate in this issue of irrigation equipment to help you to solve it. “There are issues related to education, medicine, sports tourism. You are a unique country and tourists come and visit with great pleasure in your country.” After the meeting with the head of Tatarstan, VP Chiwenga met the first Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food of Tartastan, Mr Nailevich Lenar Garipov. Deputy Minister Garipov was in the company of representatives of several companies in the agricultural sector involved in dairy, genetics, breeding among others. After the meeting, VP Chiwenga and his delegation toured some of the companies. “For the meeting with the Vice President we invited a number of companies to demonstrate their capacities,” said Deputy Minister Garipov. “The specific dimensions where we feel this cooperation could be fruitful is areas such as refining equipment production and selling equipment as well as organising localisation of equipment manufacturing as well as help in the knowledge transfer.” Speaking afterwards, VP Chiwenga said Zimbabwe was open for business and is ready to open new avenues of cooperation with Russia. “There is huge potential for investment in agriculture and many other sectors,” said VP Chiwenga. “We are already cooperating with the Russians in many areas so what we want is to improve this cooperation and improve trade for the benefit of our people. They will be coming home and specific areas will be discussed where this cooperation can be enhanced. “In Zimbabwe, agriculture is the mainstay of the economy and the success of its value chains contributes significantly to the growth of our industries. I have taken this opportunity to visit agricultural institutions and companies in Kazan, to appreciate the investment models as well as the support being rendered to small scale farming.”