Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has said turning around the economy and fostering unity among the people are some of the major challenges for the inclusive government, New Ziana reported on Wednesday.

Addressing journalists soon after meeting visiting Norwegian Environment and International Development Minister Erik Solheim, Mugabe said the main challenge really is to get the economy to improve and get a turn around and then to get the various sectors of the economy to move and become viable.

He stressed the need for capital investment for a successful turn around.

Zimbabwe's economy has contracted in the last eights years with capacity utilization dipping to levels of around 20 percent.

Mugabe said the inclusive government had to establish peace and end political violence. "The main challenge is to establish peace and end conflict, avoid violence and get people to be more untied than before," he said.

With the establishment of an inclusive government, there was no longer any opposition party in the country, he said, adding that the inclusive government would strive to achieve the goals it had set for itself.

Mugabe said this was not the first time that Zimbabwe had had an inclusive government. Zimbabwe's first independent government was a coalition administration which included ministers from the former Rhodesian government.

He also reiterated that Zimbabwe was working on a new constitution which should be ready in two years. "It is on the strength of that Constitution that new elections will be held," he said.

The President said there was need for international support for the new government to succeed. He, however, said countries willing to assist had to recognize that Zimbabwe was an independent sovereign state whose rights had to be respected by others.

He chronicled Zimbabwe's history to the visiting Norwegian journalists to give them a better understanding of the situation. Solheim arrived in the country on Tuesday to consult how Norway can assist the inclusive government.

Source:Xinhua