VICE President Joice Mujuru has urged Government officials to stick to their core business, and not to poach business ideas from people who approach them for assistance. The Vice President was speaking at a meeting with the Zimbabwe delegation to India before the start of the 8th India-Africa conclave on Sunday.

“When somebody comes to you for assistance, it is wrong for you to use their ideas to promote your own business interests,” she said.

Vice President Mujuru urged business representatives not hesitate to call on Government officials for assistance as they tie up their partnerships.

She said there was need to maximise the opportunities presented by the meeting to “seal meaningful deals” and to establish contacts that could be pursued in the near future.

She said this was critical with regard to parastatals which she said should start establishing “meaningful partnerships” that would enable them to start making money for the Government as opposed to being a continuous drain on the fiscus.

She said the decision to come to India was part of the Look East Policy initiated by President Mugabe.

“When President Mugabe pronounced the Look East Policy, many people thought of China but it applies to the whole Asian continent, including India,” she said.

Deputy Prime Minister Professor Arthur Mutambara challenged the public and private business representatives attending the meeting to use the business opportunity to create synergies to enhance their businesses.

“We are here to discuss, interrogate and execute businesses and as policymakers we need you to tell us what needs to be done to enable you to do what you know best,” he said.

Meanwhile, a number of Indian businesspeople paid courtesy calls on Vice President Mujuru before the opening of the conclave.

The chairperson of the Confederation of India Industries, who is also TATA International Limited special advisor Mr Syamal Gupta, met the Vice President first, saying the Indian government, through his organisation, was keen to offer capacity building initiatives.

He said the government’s brief to them was to move away from buying and selling and concentrate on technology transfer that promotes industrialisation.

He also said the existing good relations between the two countries should be expanded to a bigger scale to include the economic front, particularly in the area of Small to Medium Enterprises for the benefit of citizens of both countries.

After Mr Gupta, Vice President Mujuru met the Kirloskar Brothers Limited chairman and managing director Mr Sanjay C. Kirloskar.

The company manufactures world-renowned water pumps credited with creating the green revolution in India that has seen the country producing enough food to feed its 1,2 billion citizens.

Mr Kirloskar said Vice President Mujuru had expressed her wish for the company to assist Government to create green belts in Zimbabwe to restore its bread basket status.

Mr Kirloskar said the Vice President emphasised that such a project was self-sustaining because it involved the production of food, an everyday requirement which could market itself.

Vice President Mujuru also met Essar director Mr Jatinder Mehra during a dinner hosted for her by the conglomerate.

The Vice President told Mr Mehra her Government was looking forward to Essar making an enhanced impact on various areas of development, such as infrastructure and power.

In respect of power, she said Government was looking at Essar to generate power beyond the requirements of the New Zimbabwe Steel plant, formerly the Zimbabwe Iron and Steel Company.

Mr Mehra reassured the Vice President of his company’s commitment to invest in Zimbabwe. He said what the company was focusing on at the moment was an integrated project, assured of the provision of constant power supplies and a reliable railway transport system.