The unity of purpose among Zimbabweans should result in an improvement in the country's economy which has been experiencing challenges over the past seven years, a senior official of the African Development Bank (AfDB) has reportedly said.

The bank's Group Executive Director for Zimbabwe Rick Kukuri was quoted by the official New Ziana on Tuesday as saying that the combined efforts by all sectors in the country gave the bank confidence that the country would overcome its challenges.

"We would like Zimbabwe to come out of its difficulties and we believe strongly that we are on our way there. We have seen a very strong confluence of energies pulling together and this is very important. This kind of working together will bring the desired results," he said.

"One positive thing which we learnt among many, was the way all stakeholders have been very open about the difficulties in Zimbabwe and an open discussion about the lessons learnt in all these matters," he said.

He said they were encouraged that the government was ready to engage in constructive dialogue with the international community based on mutual respect.

Zimbabwe, he said, was a beautiful country with a robust economic base and all Zimbabweans they had talked to ranging from farmers in the village, civic leaders to the private sector and the government, were committed to the development of the country.

He expressed confidence that Zimbabwe would soon resume normal relations with the bank and revive lending agreements which have been suspended through the turnaround of its economy.

Kukuri arrived in Harare on Saturday with an AfDB delegation, which has held discussions with the ministers of economic development and finance, the Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono, representatives of the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries, United Nations Development Program and the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce.

Source: Xinhua