ZIMBABWE BENEFITS GREATLY FROM SMART PARTNERSHIP, SAYS MUGABE

By R. Ravichandran

PUTRAJAYA, June 18 (Bernama) -- Zimbabwe has benefited greatly from the
smart partnership concept espoused at the Langkawi International Dialogue (LID)
series, said President Robert Mugabe.

He said this was cultivated especially during the tenure of former prime
minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who mooted the LID.

Mugabe said Zimbabwe had capitalised on the ideas and principles of the
smart partnership in charting its programmes and policies by harnessing the
principle of smart partnership.

The principle is harnessed through governance, community development, the
private sector and information in charting policies and programmes to ensure
maximum participation in development strides, he added.

He was speaking to Bernama on arrival at the Kuala Lumpur International
Airport (KLIA), Sepang today to attend the three-day LID in Putrajaya.

The LID is part of the Smart Partnership Dialogue series, which promotes the
principles and practice of the smart partnership, in enhancing cooperation
between the government and other sectors in striving towards economic growth.

The smart partnership is an innovative concept based on a positive ethos
of "prosper thy neighbour for "win-win" situations.

"The ideas must be backed by quite a number of things... you need capital,
you need expertise and you need technology. And all these come in as input," he
said.

The 87-year-old leader is one of the regulars at the LID forum which is
being held for the first time outside the Malaysian resort island of Langkawi.

Leaders or representatives from 16 countries will attend the LID hosted by
Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak.

The LID theme this year is "Enhancing Smart Partnership for Socio-Economic
Transformation".

It will focus on efforts to transform and advance the Smart Partnership
Dialogue towards enhancing socio-economic development of the participating
countries.

-- BERNAMA