1st LD Writethru: Efforts to normalise Zimbabwe, EU relations gain momentum HARARE, June 15 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwe's Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi left for Brussels, Belgium, on Saturday as efforts to normalise relations between Zimbabwe and the European Union (EU) gain momentum. Minister Mumbengegwi, in his capacity as chair of the Cabinet Committee on Re- engagement, will kick-start the resumption of dialogue between Harare and the EU with the first such high level talks between the two parties in years scheduled for June 18. However, there were fears that the process could have got off on the wrong foot after the EU tried to block Mumbengegwi from heading the delegation, according to reports by the local daily newspaper The Herald on Monday. The resumption of dialogue will be in the context of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement, which lays out the parameters for engagement between the EU and the African, Caribbean and Pacific bloc (ACP). The ACP bloc is expected to stand by Zimbabwe in the discussions as it has done since the EU prematurely invoked Article 96 of the Cotonou Agreement in 2002 to slap sanctions on Harare ahead of that year's presidential elections. The June 18 meeting follows face-to-face discussions between Mumbengegwi and British Minister for Africa Mark Malloch-Brown on the sidelines of Jacob Zuma's inauguration as South Africa's President last month. 'The re-engagement launch is a formality,' said a Foreign Affairs official on Saturday. 'We don't think that the EU is ready for substantive discussions.' 'It is just that morally the EU has been left in the open. It is becoming increasingly difficult for them to tell the world which cause or constituency they are fighting for through the continued imposition of sanctions. Zimbabwe has always kept the door open for dialogue,' the official said. The official said from the very commencement of the exploratory talks to establish grounds for re-engagement, the EU sought to determine who would lead the Zimbabwe delegation to Brussels. The official, however, expressed hope that even if nothing much came out of this first meeting, they would at least be able to lay the groundwork for more talks in the near future. The talks will be held under the auspices of Article 8 of the Cotonou Agreement, which provides for engagement between the ACP and the EU. A 2007 study on the implementation of the Cotonou Agreement by the EU itself admitted that the bloc had slapped sanctions on Zimbabwe as a political tool to manipulate the outcome of the 2002 presidential elections and to punish Harare for embarking on the revolutionary land reform program before options available under Article 8 had been exhausted. The study acknowledges that the body precluded dialogue with the country in a rush to slap sanctions. Heads and officials from the ministries of Regional Integration, Justice, Industry, Economic Planning and Finance, who make up the Cabinet Committee chaired by Mumbengegwi, will arrive in Brussels for the meeting with the EU Commission on June 17. 