Harare - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe on Wednesday appealed to foreign investors to seize opportunities in the country's mining sector, assuring them that the unity government was on track.

Mugabe told 850 foreign investors attending a two-day mining conference in the capital that the inclusive government programme formed in February with his former rival, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, had made progress.

"The inclusive government has registered satisfactory progress thus far as ensuring a stable and conducive political environment... in which the mining sector significantly contributes to the Gross Domestic Product, national employment and foreign exchange earnings," Mugabe told the investors.

Despite its potential, mining has been constrained by problems such as erratic power supply, skills shortages, failure to access foreign currency and shortages of spare parts such as drill bits.

Mining accounts for 3.8% of the country's GDP, about 4.5% of employment and a third of total foreign exchange earnings based on 2007-2008 output.

Mugabe said the government was "committed to ensuring that the policy environment is stable, predictable and sufficiently attractive to guarantee investors good returns on their investment."

By SAPA