INDIA and Zimbabwe have identified new areas of co-operation which are expected to boost bilateral trade between the two nations.

In an interview recently, Indian Ambassador to Zimbabwe Mr Jeitendra Tripathi said a special trade committee was working on identifying the new trade areas.

"We held a structured meeting in March under the mechanism of joint trade committee headed by the two ministers of trade and commerce of India and Zimbabwe. We identified areas of further co-operation," Mr Triphathi said.

He noted that trade between the two nations has been low, but was expected to grow following the set-up of the joint trade committee.

"Trade between India and Zimbabwe has not been very good, but it has been increasing from about US$60 million three years ago to US$106 million in 2010 and US$127 million in 2011 and US$177 million in 2012," he said.

He said the trade was heavily in favour of India but once the diamond sector stabilizes Zimbabwe would start benefiting as well.

"Once the diamond industry has stabilised we are sure that Zimbabwe will export its diamonds in large quantities to India for polishing. The bilateral trade will grow gradually," he said. He said India was also establishing two food testing and state-of-the-art laboratories as well as a rural technology park.

"Sites have been identified and work is being done and very soon we will put machinery start training people so that in three years they are fully trained then we hand over the project," he said.

Mr Triphathi said these were some of the soft things India was sharing with Zimbabwe for its development. He emphasised the need for capacity building saying it was the only way Zimbabwe could develop.

"Capacity building is our focus because if you do not provide capacity building you cannot build anything. You can provide fish, but it's better to provide fishing technology," he said.