PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa on Saturday attended the coronation of #KingCharlesIII and #QueenCamilla at Westminster Abbey in #London, at a glamorous event marked by ceremonial pageantry and attended by world leaders and celebrities from across the globe.

On the sidelines of the glitzy #coronation, the President held several meetings with potential #investors and also had high-level talks with the Commonwealth’s secretary-general, Patricia Scotland, in what was a key engagement in Zimbabwe’s plans to re-join the bloc.

“Pleased to welcome the President of #Zimbabwe, #EmmersonMnangagwa to Marlborough House for a courtesy call. The President & I discussed a range of issues, including Zimbabwe’s ongoing application to re-join Commonwealth Secretariat & reaffirmed the commitment to the values of the Commonwealth” Patricia Scotland, S-G, Commonwealth Secretariat.

Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to the #UK, Colonel Christian Katsande (Retired), said President Mnangagwa’s invitation to attend King Charles III’s coronation was a sign of thawing relations between #Harare and #London.

What you should know;

#Zimbabwe joined the #Commonwealth on achieving independence in 1980 but was suspended by the group in 2002 for breaching the 1991 Harare Commonwealth Declaration: a statement on the group’s shared core values agreed, ironically enough, in Zimbabwe’s own capital city. Accused of using widespread violence and electoral fraud to win the 2002 presidential election, Mugabe formally quit the Commonwealth in 2003 following its refusal to lift the suspension.

To re-join, Zimbabwe has to demonstrate that it complies with the fundamental values set out in the Commonwealth Charter, including the protection of #democracy, the rule of law and #humanrights such as freedom of expression, the CS said.

“The membership process requires an informal assessment to be undertaken by representatives of the secretary-general, followed by consultations with other Commonwealth countries,” https://lnkd.in/ee3pbMJC

Zimbabwe 🇿🇼 is an #AfCFTA member country