PRAZ indaba kicks off
STAFF WRITER
Vice President Dr Constantino Chiwenga will be the guest of honour at the two-day PRAZ conference, which kicks off today in the resort town of Victoria Falls.
More than 500 delegates have registered for the conference including regional participants, accounting officers, heads of public procurement regulatory authorities, heads of procurement management units, representatives of United Nations agencies, the World Bank and the African Development Bank.
According to PRAZ CEO Clever Ruswa, the the conference would explore the potential opportunities within the AfCFTA for implementing sustainable procurement strategies that support environmental, social and economic goals.
“The main objective is to create a nexus through integrating sustainability in the African Continental Free Trade Area’s trade and procurement,” said Mr Ruswa.
“There is need for PRAZ, as a public procurement regulator, to focus on one critical component of the AfCFTA, which aims to reduce trade problems such as different regulations from one country to another, hence there is need for harmonisation of procurement laws.
“This dovetails well with the Whole-of-Government thrust of promoting local businesses especially micro, small and medium enterprises, thereby creating an opportunity for these enterprises to expand through exporting to regional and continental markets in a sustainable manner.”
