Zimbabwe’s president Emmerson Mnangagwa has hailed the new parliament building gifted by China as a testimony of the strategic and comprehensive partnership.
He was presenting his state of the nation address at the opening of the fifth session of the ninth parliament – held for the first time in the recently completed multi-million-dollar building.
President Mnangagwa arrived at the new parliament in a Rolls Royce to a gun salute, a fly past and guard of honour.
Much like the British colonial building it replaces, the impressive stone structure perched on a hill is symbolic of deepening ties with China, following strained relations with the West.
Designed, funded and built with a grant worth more than $100m (£83m), the entrance flanked by cone towers mimicking those at the ancient Great Zimbabwe city, is fronted by a massive sheet of water symbolising The Victoria Falls.
Inside, cave paintings by the San – an indigenous people of Southern Africa – adorn the House of Assembly’s ceiling.
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