HARARE: Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa praised "excellent" relations with China as he delivered his first State of the Nation speech at a new, multimillion-dollar parliament building generously donated by China.

As a "gift" symbolizing its growing influence in the former British colony, China financed and built a US$200 million, six-story parliament building at Mount Hampden, about 18 km (11 mi) west of the capital. Harare.

The speech marked the transition from the colonial-era Victorian-style parliament building in central Harare and formally closed the current parliament's final session before elections next year.

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According to Zimbabwe, a new, "smart" capital city will be built at Mount Hampden, away from crowded Harare, which will house government offices.

Mnangagwa called the mountain chamber, which occupies 3.3 hectares (8 acres) of land, "majestic" in his speech. According to him, the structure "testifies to the strategic and all-encompassing partnership and excellent fraternal relations" between Zimbabwe and China.

According to the government, the official inauguration and handover of the building will take place at a later date which has not been announced yet.

The two countries have had ties since the 1960s when China assisted in training and supplying guerrilla fighters in the struggle against white minority rule. After gaining independence in 1980, the nation maintained close ties with Britain and other Western countries.

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Since 2003, Zimbabwe has turned to China and Russia for friendship and aid after breaking ties with Western countries, which imposed sanctions in response to allegations of vote-rigging and human rights violations by then-president Robert Mugabe. Laje, who was removed from the post in 2017. and passed away in 2019.

In Zimbabwe, China is also involved in the construction and financing of large-scale infrastructure projects, including the refurbishment of important airports.

The National Defense College in Harare was constructed by a Chinese company and opened its doors in 2014. It was funded by an interest-free loan of US$98 million from China. Zimbabwe's economy has been affected by Chinese involvement in almost every sector, including mining, agriculture and energy.

Mnangagwa, unlike his predecessor Mugabe, has attempted to warm icy relations with the West through a diplomatic outreach effort, including applying to rejoin the Commonwealth, a group of mainly former British colonies. The group that Mugabe left in 2003.

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Mnangagwa called for an "unconditional" and "immediate" lifting of sanctions imposed by the West and welcomed an invitation to a US-Africa summit next month, describing Zimbabwe as "a friend of all and an enemy of none". Zimbabwe was not invited by the US to the summit when Mugabe was in power.