Mozambique: Economy running at two speeds - business association
Photo: Jornal Domingo
Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi on Saturday encouraged Mozambican business people to be more pro-active in order to attract Chinese businesses to invest in Mozambique.
Speaking in Beijing to the business delegation accompanying him to the Third meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), due to begin on Monday, Nyusi told the businessmen “you should bank more on foreign direct investment. Mozambique is not here as just another African country. The partnership between Mozambique and China has opened a space that should be exploited in a pro-active manner by government and private stakeholders”.
Nyusi was replying to a request from some of the businesses present at the meeting for the Mozambican government to lobby the Chinese authorities on their account. Although he wanted the companies to do their own work, Nyusi added “if somebody has a project that needs government support, let him present it. The government is here to help”.
One company told Nyusi it already has a Chinese partner. This company, Muyaki, according to its chairperson, former foreign minister Leonardo Simao, has already drawn up studies for a port near Chonguene, in the southern province of Gaza, and a railway linking the port to the Limpopo line running from Maputo to Zimbabwe.
Simao said there would also be branch lines to Chibuto district in Gaza and to Inharrime in Inhambane province, two areas where there are projects to exploit titanium bearing heavy mineral sands.
Simao said Muyaki’s Chinese partner is the China Railway International Group. “Building these infrastructures could take three years and cost three billion US dollars”, he said.
Present at the meeting with Nyusi were 34 business people, representing almost all sectors of the Mozambican economy, including three of the country’s commercial banks.
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