HARARE - Zimbabwe welcomes Chinese investment and is eyeing increased economic and trade cooperation with China, cabinet ministers say, ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit next week.

"In pursuit of our national development objectives, Zimbabwe welcomes investment from the Chinese community," Industry and Commerce Minister Mike Bimha told a Zimbabwe-China investment conference held in Harare.

More than 100 Chinese and Zimbabwean business people attended the forum which started Tuesday with the aim of highlighting investment opportunities in Zimbabwe.

Several agreements on mineral trade have been signed during the forum.

Bimha said Zimbabwe had a diversified manufacturing base that offered "huge investment opportunities" for Chinese investors.

Potential areas for investment in the sector included food processing, metals and electronics, fertilizer, pharmaceuticals, clothing and textile and leather and foot wear, he said.

The minister said the country's manufacturing sector was using antiquated equipment which needed modernization and was also crippled by shortage of funds for working capital and retooling.

"I therefore call on China to avail modern technology to this sector and extend lines of credit at preferential rates," he said.

According to the Chinese embassy in Harare, China's investment in Zimbabwe hit 601 million US dollars in 2013, surpassing its investment in any other African country of the year. Bilateral trade topped 1.2 billion US dollars in 2014.

China has given 1.5 billion US dollars loans, including preferential loans, to Zimbabwe in recent years. Its grants to Zimbabwe over the past three years topped 100 million US dollars.

Speaking at the forum, Minister of Macro-Economic Planning and Investment Promotion, Obert Mpofu, said Zimbabwe had in recent months introduced several measures to improve the investment climate and the ease of doing business in the country.

He called on Chinese companies to invest in the country's prioritized energy sector, saying the government was ready to provide the necessary incentives.

"We are also working closely with the Chinese embassy to ensure that we remove all the hindrances and make our investment climate conducive to Chinese investors and indeed all other investors," he said.

Zimbabwe's parliament is expected to soon pass a law to operationalize special economic zones in the country. Mpofu urged Chinese investors to invest in the zones.

Zimbabwe Investment Authority chief executive, Richard Mubaiwa, told delegates that Zimbabwe was ripe for Chinese investment.

He said priority sectors open for investment included energy and transport infrastructure, agriculture, tourism, industrial parks and mining.

President Xi Jinping will pay a visit to Zimbabwe next week. After that, he will head to South Africa to attend the Johannesburg Summit of Forum on China-Africa Cooperation due in early December.