The fourth Public Procurement Conference hosted by Buy Zimbabwe in conjuction with the Ministry of Industry and Commerce has been postponed to May 15 at Rainbow Towers.
The annual conference was initially slated for April 30 but was moved as organisers settled for a bigger venue.
“The change in date and venue to the bigger and more spacious Rainbow Towers (HICC) has been necessitated by Ministry of Industry and Commerce together with Buy Zimbabwe and other key stakeholders to roll out an ambitious and inclusive “Make local, Buy Local Campaign” whose thrust is to mobilize local consumers into buying local products and services so as to spur local production for sustainable economic revival under the Rapid Results Initiative. As part of the campaign the Ministry of Industry and Commerce have partnered with Buy Zimbabwe in co-hosting the conference.,” said Buy Zimbabwe in statement.
The Conference is an annual interface to raise awareness among decision makers, procurement entities and stakeholders on the benefits of local procurement with an emphasis on sustainability, social responsibility, innovation and preferential domestic procurement, a network opportunity and feedback and best practical forum for stakeholders and an opportunity to highlight public procurement as a major source of SMEs growth and employment creation.
The Buy Local Campaign addresses the major challenges of the economy which include an unsustainable trade deficit, a large increase in informal activities and poor living standards which have negatively impacted the livelihoods of Zimbabweans.
Buy Zimbabwe is at the forefront of advocating for a more viable, inclusive, sustainable and internally acceptable industry support system based on incentives for increased value chain-based local procurement and disincentives for continued importation of finished products and services. This year’s event will run under the theme ‘Driving Local Industry through Public procurement achievements, opportunities and challenges’.
Buy Zimbabwe has since formally invited Minister of Finance and Economic Development Hon Mthuli Ncube to be the guest of Honor. The event will focus on enhancing the effectiveness of Public Expenditure for Socio-Economic growth, Enterprise development for inclusive growth, lessons from the private sector, the proposed procurement Index and way forward.aaa