Nyusi shares Mozambique’s economic agenda in Russia

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Nyusi shares Mozambique’s economic agenda in Russia

2:42 CAT | 23 Oct 2019

Photo: Social Media

Mozambique’s President Filipe Nyusi is attending the Russia-Africa summit in Sochi, Russia, today and tomorrow, alongside Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin and African heads of state and government representatives. The Kremlin announced on Monday that 43 of the continent’s 55 heads of state or government were expected to attend the summit.

Putin and his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Acting President of the African Union (AU), are co-chairing the summit, the first such event in the long history of Russian-African relations.

According to Mozambican Foreign Minister Jose Pacheco, Russia had adopted the summit as a platform for interacting with Africa, in order to contribute to the search for “solutions to the global challenges which today have as their main focus the peace and economic sustainability of our states.”

President Filipe Nyusi also participates in the Russia-Africa Economic Forum, taking place In Sochi in parallel with the summit.

The forum, also being held today and tomorrow, is being attended by African heads of state, representatives of Russian, African and international companies and government entities, and representatives of African integration associations.

Twelve Mozambican businesspeople, included in the CTA (Confederation of Economic Associations of Mozambique) delegation are participating in the Economic Forum.

According to Mozambique’s Minister José Pacheco, Mozambique brings to its summit and forum its development an agenda based on four main priorities: agriculture, energy, infrastructure and tourism.

These priority sectors “do not preclude investments in other cross-cutting areas such as health and education,” the Mozambican head of diplomacy said in Sochi yesterday.

With this in mind, Nyusi yesterday held meetings with leaders of Russian companies such as Alexander Mikheev, managing director of Rosoboronexport, a Russian state-owned enterprise for exports and imports of military and defence products, technologies and services, and Andrey Kostin, CEO of VTB, one of Russia’s leading banks. He also had a working lunch with Dimitry Mazepin, CEO of Russian fertilizer company Uralkali.

“Russian businesspeople look with great interest at the possibilities of investing in Mozambique,” Minister Pacheco said.

In a short statement to the Mozambican press at the end of his meeting with Nyusi, Andrey Kostin said he had spoken with the Mozambican head of state about “the prospects, and plans to increase our cooperation” with Mozambique, in pursuance of which a delegation of the Russian bank would visit Mozambique later this year.

On the issue of Mozambique’s ‘hidden’ debts, Andrey Kostin said that the issue was being addressed, and that “we decided to continue discussions to find solutions to the problem”.

The Mozambican president has bilateral meetings with other heads of state today and tomorrow, including his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.

By José Machado