HARARE, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwe's inclusive government held its inaugural cabinet meeting at the Munhumutapa Building on Tuesday on the back of high expectations to tackle economic challenges that have bedeviled the country over the past decade, New Ziana reported.

    President Robert Mugabe chaired the meeting, which MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai and his deputies Professor Arthur Mutambara and Thokozani Khupe also attended.

    On Monday morning the new ministers were briefed by their outgoing counterparts and in the afternoon they attended a briefing on the operations of government and cabinet.

    Formation of the inclusive government was completed on Friday when the ministers were sworn in at State House. The process began with the swearing in of Tsvangirai as Prime Minister and Mutambaraand Khupe as Deputy Prime Ministers.

    Leaders of the three main political parties in Zimbabwe agreed in September last year to share power following disputed elections.

    Dispute over allocation of ministries, however, stalled formation of the inclusive government as the MDC-T insisted that all issues be resolved before it could join.

    In terms of the agreement, President Mugabe chairs cabinet while Tsvangirai chairs the Council of Ministers, whose members include all cabinet ministers.

    Zimbabweans are pinning their hopes on the inclusive government to address the myriad of challenges that the country has faced over the past decade.