By The Japanese government is keen on assisting Zimbabwe with technology that helps combating cybercrime.
Japanese ambassador to Zimbabwe, Toshiyuki Iwado during a meeting with ICT and Cyber Security minister Hon Supa Mandiwanzira pledged to increase co-operation between the two countries.
“The country’s direct message to us is just of welcome. As ambassador, I will try my best to promote co-operation in different fields and in this particular case, in ICT,” Iwado said.
He also said, “We exchanged some views on how we can promote cyber security and the safety of the people in this country and we were impressed by the response we got.
Minister Mandiwanzira appealed to the Japanese government to assist them in fighting cyber crime.
“There is a window for us to look into areas of cooperation and it is my appeal that we find ways of reconnecting and where possible get some assistance from the Japanese government in terms of investments in the ICT space and the Cyber security where I think we have a huge task, a huge responsibility to build infrastructure that will help us protect our people from cyber criminals. I think in a nutshell, that is the main reason why we are meeting,” he said.
He also said Zimbabwe should attract Japanies companies for employment creation and technology transfer.
The minister noted the support Zimbabwean parastatals have been receiving from Japan.
“On that score I must say previously we have had quite some big cooporation between the government of Zimbabwe and the government of Japan in terms of the development of the telecommunications space.
“A lot our parastatals like TelOne have previously benefited from investment by Japanese companies. These were facilitated by the Japanese Exim bank where infrastructure has been developed and built around ICT and telecommunication space,” Mandiwanzira said.
However this support faced a hiccup owing to the negative image portrayed of Zimbabwe.
“I think that cooperation did come to some interruption as a result of the political situation, the global attitude towards Zimbabwe’s claim to its resources, its wealth for its people.
But in this new political dispensation, there has been a warming up to the new government which is working on correcting the tainted image. “But I do think that all matters that were of concern to the international community including Japan have been resolved,” said Mandiwanzira.
The Japanese envoy was accompanied by one of the leading companies in the sector, NEC, represented by its deputy managing director for Africa, Kentaro Maekawa.
NEC is renowned the world over for playing an integral part to create “Smart Cities” where people are able to live, work, and play in safety and comfort, while also coexisting in harmony with the environment by provision of advanced technologies and solutions.
Maekawa said his company is willing to bring Japanese technology to Zimbabwe.
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