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We are now into the third day of the Buy Zimbabwe Conference and Experiential Expo and today our focus is on mining, energy and financial clusters. If cluster presentations held on Wednesday are anything to go by, then this conference is guaranteed to produce remarkable resolutions. I sensed a hunger in the panellists and discussants to implement the resolutions for the good of the country.

However, before I go into the expectations of the cluster presentations I would like to acknowledge our sponsors for the Buy Zimbabwe Conference and Experiential show for making sure the event is a resounding success.

Firstly, I acknowledge our diamond sponsor, Mbada Diamonds, Platinum sponsor TN Bank, ICT Cluster sponsors Econet Wireless and Zim Yellow Pages, Mining Cluster sponsors Mimosa and Zimplats, Motoring cluster sponsors Willowvale Mazda Motor Industries and AVM and Manufacturing and Agriculture cluster National Foods.

Our partnership co-hosting with the National Economic Consultative Forum and the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce has also ensured that our guest of honour, panellists, moderators, facilitators, intervenes and delegates are all of the right calibre. This has helped guided conference deliberations in the right direction and encourages every follower of this article to look out for a summary of the key conference resolutions.

Now getting back to the programme for today, the Mining cluster is expected to be a huge one as the sector has been viewed to lead Zimbabwe's total economic recovery.

It has been argued that Zimbabwe can easily achieve double-digit growth in 2012 on the backdrop of mining with the production of such minerals as gold and platinum being said to be increasingly substantial.

The examples to be drawn from the mining sector in leading economic growth will, however, be considered against the challenges that have been associated with the sector, which include hesitant investors influenced by an uncertain political environment.

In addition, erratic power supply, inefficient rail transportation, the rising cost of production, constraints in the supply of services, illiquidity in the financial services sector and difficulties in raising long-term capital are slowing progress.

Discussions in the Banking and Finance cluster are expected to unlock the country's "temporary liquidity crisis".

The nation is currently battling a huge contradiction in that area and despite the choking liquidity crisis, we still continue to rely on imports.

This is also an opportunity for local financial institutions to highlight any innovative products that may support, re-capitalise and re-tool local industry, which has suffered from a general lack of funds to support production.

Commercial banks have been and are one of the most important contributors of private sector credit and therefore highly influential over most areas of economic activity.

However, they are currently facing financial constraints, as the Reserve bank cannot perform its function as a lender of the last resort due to the phasing out of the local currency.

Zimbabwe also faces a number of formidable challenges in its water sector. The Water and Sanitation cluster should be in a position to discuss the country's low investment in water and waste-water treatment infrastructure.

Indications are that a lot of interest in this cluster is centred around the local procurement policy, which could help resuscitate procurement relationships between key stakeholders in the cluster.

With Zimbabwe currently building infrastructure to improve water and sanitation, a lot of potential is available for local companies such as Turnall to benefit from the process, however, tenders are being won by foreign firms to provide materials such as piping.

These cluster sessions are open to all our conference delegates who have been with us since Wednesday, from leading CEOs to senior Government officials, trade unionists, business associations and the media to come and tackle the challenges being faced in each specific sector.

Till next week and may the good Lord richly bless you!

Robert Garai Muganda is the media and communications executive for Buy Zimbabwe.